WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Inventories at U.S. businesses were flat in August, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The unchanged reading was below the 0.1% gain expected by economists polled by MarketWatch. Business sales were fell 0.6% in August, the biggest drop since January. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, rose to 1.37 from 1.36 in July. One new piece of information was retail inventories, which rose 0.3% in August compared with a 0.1% drop in sales. Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.4%.
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