- Factory sales +2.6%
- Manufacturing sales ex autos +2.5%
- Unfilled orders +0.4%
- Inventories +1.2%
- Inventory-to-sale ratio 1.60
Sales rose in 18 of 21 industries in the second month of gains.
I'm keying on inventories in this report, with the total dollar value of inventories hitting a record $100.8 billion. Much of that reflects price rises of commodity inventories and other raw materials but the inventory-to-sales ratio is also higher than pre-covid.
I believe 2022 will be a year of rising inventories but it will be tough to pull the signal from the noise as high commodity prices and other inflationary pressures make inventories look larger than they might otherwise be.
