Inventories Fall for 3rd Month in a Row

U.S. wholesale inventories fell for a third consecutive month in August and sales rose, according to government figures that suggest companies had made progress clearing warehouses before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Stockpiles declined 0.1% in August to $298.7 billion, the lowest level since June 2000, the Commerce Department said. Analysts were expecting a decline of 0.3%.

Wholesale sales rose 0.6%, surprising analysts, who had expected a decline of 0.3%.

That brought the closely watched stock-to-sales ratio, which measures how long it takes to deplete current inventories, down to 1.30 months in August from 1.31 in July.

The last time wholesale inventories declined for three straight months was in 1991, when the country was emerging from the last recession.