On March 15, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for January — adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes — was estimated at $1.847 trillion, up 1.5% from December 2022 and up 5% from January 2022.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for January — also adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes — were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2.479 trillion, down 0.1% from December 2022 but up 11.1% from January 2022.

Census data showed that the total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January was 1.34. The January 2022 ratio was 1.27, according to the data.