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 February, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,142.8 billion, down 1.1 percent (±0.2%) from January 2008 and up 6.7 percent (±0.4%) from February 2007.

Inventories.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,468.4 billion, up 0.6 percent (±0.1%) from January 2008 and up 5.2 percent (±0.4%) from February 2007.

Inventories/Sales Ratio.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of February was 1.28. The February 2007 ratio was 1.30.


Available at:

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