Skip to main content
← All News

Trade · October 8, 2026 · 1 min read

Census: August wholesale sales rise 1.8 percent to $817.5 billion

By Econ Data Tools Editorial Team

Published October 8, 2026 • Updated October 8, 2026

Reviewed by primary-source verification

The October 8 report puts inventories at $964.2 billion and the inventory-to-sales ratio at 1.18. Figures are seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for price changes.

The Census Bureau's October 8, 2026 Monthly Wholesale Trade report estimates August sales of merchant wholesalers at $817.5 billion, up 1.8 percent from the revised July level and 15.6 percent from August 2025. The measure excludes manufacturers' sales branches and offices. The estimates are adjusted for seasonal variations and trading-day differences, but not for price changes. A rise in these dollar sales is therefore not automatically a rise of the same size in real, inflation-adjusted activity. End-August inventories totaled $964.2 billion, up 0.5 percent from the revised July level and 6.4 percent from a year earlier. The August inventory increase was revised from the advance estimate of 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent. The seasonally adjusted inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.18, compared with 1.28 in August 2025. The ratio compares stock on hand with sales; it is not a direct measure of consumer prices or a promised future inflation path. The June-to-July sales increase was revised from 0.8 percent to 1.0 percent. Revision status matters when comparing this release with earlier headlines. The reported 90 percent confidence margins are plus or minus 0.2 percentage point for both monthly sales and monthly inventories. These survey estimates can change with revisions. The report does not by itself prove a recession, a Federal Reserve decision or a specific change in real GDP.

Follow the data

Relevant directory links appear to be unassigned.

Sources

  • Source 1 — Submitted by the validated Drive bridge

Related News

Initial jobless claims fall to 197,000 in week ended October 3

DOL's October 8 release shows a 2,000 decline from the revised prior week. Continuing insured unemployment rose to 1.716 million for the separate week ended September 26.

September Fed minutes: most participants saw another rate increase as likely by year-end

Minutes of the September 15-16 meeting show unanimous support for a quarter-point rise to 3.75-4.00 percent. Future decisions remained conditional on incoming data, not a promised next-meeting hike.

New York Fed: one-year inflation expectations rise to 3.9 percent in September

The October 7 survey release puts one-year inflation expectations at their highest since May 2023. Labor-market expectations mostly improved, but household financial outlooks worsened.