US: Wholesale trade sales rose 0.2% in September to $511.2 billion

"September 2018 sales of merchant wholesalers were $511.2 billion up 0.2 percent from the revised August level and were up 7.8 percent from the September 2017 level," the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Friday.

Key takeaways from the press release

• Total inventories of merchant wholesalers were $644.6 billion at the end of September, up 0.4 percent from the revised August level.
• Total inventories were up 5.2 percent from the revised September 2017 level. 
• The September inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers was 1.26. The September 2017 ratio was 1.29.