Economy

Advance Trade in Goods Balance Rises; Wholesale, Retail Inventories Build Solidly

Inventory Builds, Narrowing Overall Trade Gap Proved Big for GDP

Logistics and transportation of import export container cargo ship, cargo plane with working crane bridge in shipyard at sunrise, logistic import export and transport industry background. (Photo: ADobeStock)

The U.S. Census Bureau announced advance estimates for international trade, wholesale inventories and retail inventories for May.

Indicator	Prior	Revised	Consensus Forecast	Forecast Range	Result
Goods Balance	$-72.1 B	$-70.9 B	$-71.5 B	$-74.0 B to $-70.0 B	$-74.6 B
Wholesale M/M % ∆	0.7%	0.9%	0.4%	0.1% to 0.5%	0.4%
Retail M/M % ∆	0.5%	0.5%	—	—	0.5%

Advance International Trade in Goods

The international trade in goods deficit was estimated at $74.5 billion in May, up $3.6 billion from $70.9 billion in April. Exports were estimated at $140.2 billion, or $4.1 billion more than April. Imports of goods were $214.7 billion, up $7.8 billion.

Advance Wholesale Inventories

Wholesale inventories were estimated at $678.7 billion, up 0.4% (±0.2%). Year-over-year, they were up 7.8% (±1.1%). The March 2019 to April 2019 percentage change was revised higher from up 0.8% (±0.4%) to up 0.9% (±0.4%).

Data adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes.

Advance Retail Inventories

Retail inventories were estimated at $664.5 billion, up 0.5% (±0.2%). Year-over-year, they were up 4.8% (±0.5%). The March 2019 to April 2019 percentage change was unrevised at up 0.6% (±0.4%).

Data adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes.

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.