The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.


Sales.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers'' shipments for November, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,051.4 billion, up 0.5% from October and up 4.0% from November 2005.

Inventories.

Manufacturers'' and trade inventories adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,368.2 billion, up 0.4% from October and up 6.9% from November 2005.

Inventories/Sales Ratio.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of November was 1.30. The November 2005 ratio was 1.27.


Available at:

http://www.census.gov/mtis/www/current.html