Trade and manufacturing sales, inventories post small decline, New York's index shows recovery

Manufacturing companies may still need to keep a close eye on their business financing, as the U.S. Census Bureau just announced that trade and manufacturing sales and inventories fell in May, though only slightly.

The report found that sales slipped 0.1 percent in May, settling at $966.1 billion. This marks a 17.8 percent decrease from May 2008.

Meanwhile, inventories fell 1 percent to an estimated $1,368.1 billion, making it 8 percent lower than last year's reading.

Regarding specific sectors, manufacturing saw the biggest decline in month-to-month sales, with a seasonally-adjusted decrease of 0.9 percent. Retailers and merchant wholesalers increased their sales by 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent since April, respectively.

As for inventories, retailers saw the biggest decline, posting a 1.6 percent loss since April. Merchant wholesalers lost 0.8 percent in May while manufacturers lost 0.6 percent.

This news is tempered with the announcement that manufacturing in New York saw the largest gain since the recession began.

According to the newly released Empire Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the business conditions index rose from minus 9.4 in June to almost break even at minus 0.55. This climb surpassed economists' expectations of minus 5, according to Reuters.

Considering New York's economy generally sets the pace for the rest of the nation, July's manufacturing index could indicate the start of an economic upturn, experts say.