Businesses increased inventories, or products waiting to be sold, by 0.8% in August. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.9% increase. Rising inventories add to gross domestic product and usually reflect an expanding economy. The government said sales rose a smaller 0.3% in the month, however. As a result, the ratio of inventories to sales rose to 1.33 from 1.32 in the prior month. That’s how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. While the ratio is still fairly low, it’s been on a recent uptrend. That can happen when demand slows, potentially leaving companies stuck with unwanted goods that they have to discount to sell.
USDJPY: the pair declines ahead of the US ADP employment data
The USDJPY rate fell below 154.00 on Wednesday amid rising wages in Japan. Today, the market will focus on the US ADP employment statistics. Find
