We are sure the great and good of the economic world will explain away this data with one word – “weather” but the 1.9% drop in Wholesale Sales is the largest in 5 years and aside from the financial crisis is the worst since 1993! This is also the biggest miss on record. Inventories rose more than expected (+0.6% vs +0.4% expectations) which could be a problem as the inventories/sales ratio surges to its highest in 11 months. Unsurprisingly, Autos saw the largest inventory build (+6.8% YoY).
Wholesale Sales plunge…
With auto inventory at all time record highs and growing at the fastest pace in 15 months
Chart: Bloomberg