Wholesale inventories in April 2010 increased 0.4% to $397.8 billion from March, but were down 3.2% from a year ago. Sales increased by 0.7% to $351.1 billion and are 16.3% higher than a year ago.
New orders for manufactured goods in April rose 1.2% from March, to $420.1 billion. Shipments increased 0.6%, to $422.3 billion; unfilled orders rose 0.4%, to $801.2 billion; and inventories increased 0.5%, to $521.7 billion.
Construction spending was $869.1 billion in April 2010, 2.7% above March 2010 but 10.5% below April 2009.
Sales of new single-family houses were 504,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in April 2010, a 14.8% increase over the revised March rate and a 47.8% increase over the rate in April 2009.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in April 2010 increased 2.9% from March, to $193.9 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 1.0% from the prior month, to $143.2 billion. Total shipments rose 1.4% to $196 billion.
