September Wholesale Inventories Accumulate Faster Than Expected, Grow By 1.5% On Expectations Of 0.7%, Suspicious Destocking Seen In Alcohol Products

The old faithful GDP boosting trick of accumulating inventories continues to work. The Census Bureau announced that September wholesale inventories jumped by 1.5%, matching the largest monthly increase in over two years, and coming in decisively over estimates of 0.7%. Furthermore, the prior number was also revised much higher from 0.8% to 1.2%, confirming what we already knew: namely that Q3 GDP is merely based on yet another stocking, which will soon need to be liquidated as end demand persists at being subdued, further impacting FIFO margins (as for LIFO, forgetaboutit). The biggest jump in inventories was in farm products (14.8%) and misc. durable goods (3.0%), while destocking was seen in lumber, prof and comp equipment, and... alcohol. The last one is self-explanatory.