Wholesale inventories in the United States grew 0.2% in October compared to September's revised figures, coming in at $913.5 billion, the US Census Bureau revealed in a report on Thursday. Year over year, the reading gained 1.7%. Sales of merchant wholesalers, adjusted for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, stood at $704.9 billion, down 0.4% month on month but up 4.6% on an annual basis. The ratio between inventories and sales for merchant wholesalers was at 1.30 in October, falling from the same period a year ago, when it ran at 1.33. (full story)