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U.S. business inventories fall 0.4 pct in September

WASHINGTON
Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:10am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business inventories fell in September to their lowest in nearly four years, but the decline was smaller than expected, government data showed on Monday, suggesting third-quarter economic growth estimates could be revised upwards.

Economy

The Commerce Department said inventories fell 0.4 percent to $1.30 billion, the lowest since November 2005. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.7 percent drop, after a 1.6 percent fall in August initially reported at 1.5 percent.

Moderation in inventory liquidation contributed almost 1 percentage point to the 3.5 percent annualized growth pace in U.S. gross domestic product in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Economy


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