,WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - Led by manufacturers, U.S. businesses reduced stockpiles slightly more aggressively than expected in June.
Business inventories fell 0.4 percent that month, the biggest drop in three months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Economists looked for a 0.3-percent decline.
Still, sales that month fell 1.4 percent, the largest decline in nearly nine years, government figures showed.
Many economists remain encouraged that factories, stores and other businesses continue to pare down an inventory overhang that has hit a range of industries over the past year, but has impacted high-tech perhaps the hardest.
Inventories have fallen for five months in a row, according to the Commerce Department's data.
But slowly dwindling stockpiles doesn't mean most experts don't expect the Federal Reserve to give businesses some more help, likely with a quarter-point reduction to its current 3.75-percent lending target next week.
Beyond next week's Fed meeting, some economists believe that rate will have to fall as low as 3 percent to 3.25 percent to insulate the economy from recession.
Ist das der Grund für den Futureabsturz?