The U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for August — adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes — was estimated at $1.5 trillion, up 0.6% (±0.2%) from July but down 0.4% (±0.4%) from August 2019.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for August, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1.9 trillion, up 0.3% (±0.1%) from July, but were down 5.5% (±0.3%) from August 2019.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of August was 1.32. The August 2019 ratio was 1.39.