The U.S. Census Bureau this week released advance indicators showing that the international trade deficit and wholesale inventories increased in August.

The international trade deficit was $87.6 billion in August, up $0.8 billion from $86.8 billion in July. Exports of goods for August were $149 billion, $1.1 billion more than July exports. Imports of goods for August were $236.6 billion, $1.9 billion more than July imports.

Wholesale inventories for August, adjusted for seasonal variations and trading day differences, but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $731.0 billion, up 1.2% from July 2021, and were up 12.3% from August 2020. The June 2021 to July 2021 percentage change was unrevised from the preliminary estimate of up 0.6%.