# U.S. Business Inventories Rise 0.4% as Sales Climb 1.1% By Enna Lee Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/32730 Published: 2026-10-15T19:55:12.000Z Updated: 2026-10-15T19:55:12.000Z Section: Investing > Inventories were up 4.6% from a year earlier, while the ratio fell from 1.34 in July and 1.40 in August 2025. U.S. businesses increased inventories 0.4% in August as sales rose faster, lifting total stocks to $2.8188 trillion and lowering the inventory-to-sales ratio in a monthly snapshot of goods held relative to business sales. The increase followed a revised 0.9% rise in July. Inventories were 4.6% higher than in August 2025. Business sales gained 1.1% during August, reaching $2.1235 trillion. Since sales grew faster than inventories during the month, the ratio slipped to 1.33 from 1.34 in July. The ratio also stood below the 1.40 recorded in August 2025. It compares the dollar value of inventories with sales, providing a measure of inventories relative to sales. At 1.33, the reported amount corresponds to $1.33 of inventory for each $1 of sales. Manufacturers’ and merchant wholesalers’ inventories each rose 0.5% in August. Retail inventories increased 0.2%, while retail inventories excluding motor vehicles were unchanged. Merchant wholesalers held $964.2 billion in inventories, a 0.5% monthly increase also reflected in the [August wholesale inventory reading](). The inventory and sales figures are adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences, but not for price changes. The dollar totals therefore do not directly measure changes in the physical volume of goods. The monthly report combines data from retail and wholesale trade surveys with the manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders survey. Retail revisions released Sept. 28 are reflected in the August report. Wholesale revisions are scheduled for Oct. 26 and are to be included in the September report. ## Links in this article - [August wholesale inventory reading](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/28153)