New orders for manufactured goods in February increased 0.6% to $383.5 billion. Shipments, following five consecutive monthly increases, decreased 0.1%; unfilled orders increased 0.5%; and inventories, up four of the last five months, increased 0.5% from January.
Business inventories were virtually unchanged at $1,310.2 billion in January 2010 from the prior month, and were down 8.6% from January 2009. Sales rose 0.6% to $1,046.9 billion in January 2010 from the prior month, and were up 6.8% from the year before.
Retail sales in February 2010 increased 0.3% from January, to $355.5 billion. This was up 3.9% from the February 2009 level. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.8% from the previous month and increased 4.2% from the prior year, to $297.7 billion.
The U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services in January 2010 decreased 6.6% to $37.3 billion. Exports declined 0.3% to $142.7 billion, and imports decreased 1.7% to $180.0 billion.
Wholesale inventories in January 2010 decreased 0.2% to $382.2 billion from December 2009, and were 15.4% below their level of a year ago. Sales increased 1.3% to $346.7 billion, and are 10.5% higher than a year ago.
