Wholesale inventories in the U.S. fell 0.5% in October, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Companies were not able to keep up with production owing to a combination of growing demand and supply disruptions caused by hurricanes in the prior month. Inventories are up 3.9% year over year, however. Wholesale sales jumped 0.7% in October. At October’s sales pace, the inventory-to-sales ratio slipped to 1.25 from 1.26. One caveat: If inventories don’t recover in the November and December, it would dampen fourth-quarter GDP.
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