US wholesale inventories revised up in September

In September, the US wholesale inventories saw a slight revision upwards, increasing by 0.7% instead of the initially reported 0.6%. This upward revision was largely driven by significant rises in stocks of electrical goods and hardware, which experts believe could be linked to the artificial intelligence buildout. The Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported this revision on Monday.

Inventories, which are a key component of gross domestic product, had previously been recorded to have grown by 0.6% in August. However, the revised figures show a more substantial increase of 0.6% in August. On a year-over-year basis, inventories climbed by 7.6% in September.

Durable goods inventories at wholesalers also saw an increase of 0.6%, with electrical goods experiencing a notable rise of 2.5% and hardware rebounding by 1.3%. This surge in inventories is largely attributed to businesses' aggressive spending on AI, which has become a major driver of economic growth.

Interestingly, petroleum inventories also saw a substantial increase of 10.6% in September. The rebound in inventory investment in the third quarter came after five consecutive quarters of decline. Overall, inventories contributed 1.61 percentage points to the economy's 3.4% annualized growth pace in the July-September quarter.

Sales at wholesalers also rose by 2.8% in September, up from the 2.0% increase seen in August. At the current sales pace, it would take only 1.21 months to clear the shelves, a slight improvement from the 1.23 months observed in August. The inventories/sales ratio stood at 1.34 months in September 2025.