Wholesale Inventories Drop most in 7 years

Bloomberg reports that "inventories at U.S. wholesalers fell in October by the most in seven years as the biggest drop in demand ever caused companies to scale back.

The 1.1 percent decline in the value of stockpiles was larger than forecast and followed a revised 0.4 percent decrease in September, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Sales plunged 4.1 percent in October, the most since records began in 1992.

Wholesalers had enough goods on hand to last 1.16 months at the current sales pace, the most since February 2007. Excess stockpiles heading into the holiday shopping signal companies may have to slash prices to trim stocks."