Highlights
There's signs of strong acceleration underway in wholesale, a key sector that's the intermediary for all other sectors. Inventories in the sector rose 1.0 percent in December, a strong build that's matched by a proportional 1.3 percent build in sales that leaves the stock-to-sales ratio unchanged at a very lean and efficient 1.15. The ISM in last week's non-manufacturing report noted strong signs of activity appearing in wholesale, an indication that points to continued strong inventory and sales growth in the January report this time next month.

Inventories in general show a steady quarter-to-quarter build of 1.2 percent, right in line with the third-quarter sequential build for the business inventories series. There's only one missing piece for the fourth quarter in this series and it's the retail sector which will come out with the business inventories report on Tuesday.

Market Consensus before announcement
Wholesale inventories in November slowed to a 0.1 percent gain from October's outsized build of 1.2 percent. Build relative to sales has been steady with the inventory-to-sales ratio holding at 1.15.

2012 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/10 2/9 3/9 4/10 5/9 6/8 7/11 8/9 9/12 10/10 11/9 12/11 Release For: Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct