U.S. wholesale sales declined -0.4% MoM in October 2025 but rose +4.6% YoY, indicating a modest monthly pullback alongside solid annual growth.

• Merchant wholesaler sales fell to $704.9 billion in October (-0.4% MoM), extending the soft monthly trend following a -0.2% MoM decline in September that was unrevised from the preliminary estimate.
• On a YoY basis, wholesale sales increased +4.6%, underscoring stronger activity compared with October 2024 despite recent month-to-month weakness.
• Total wholesale inventories increased +0.2% MoM to $913.5 billion, showing continued but moderate inventory accumulation.
• Durable inventories fell -0.2% MoM while non-durable inventories increased 0.8% MoM (following a 1.1% MoM rise in November).
• Farm product inventories jumped 3.2% MoM (after a 4.5% MoM increase in November) but are still down -4.3% YoY.
• Inventories were up +1.7% YoY, indicating slower stock growth than sales over the past year.
• The inventories-to-sales ratio edged up to 1.30 in October, compared with 1.33 a year earlier, suggesting inventories remain leaner relative to sales than in October 2024.
• The combination of falling MoM sales and rising inventories contributed to the slight uptick in the inventory-to-sales ratio from September’s level.