Q3 GDP In Question As Inventories Stumble In September

While excuses will fly- "it was the storms" - which apparently did not interfere with massive beats in housing data, the wholesale and retail inventory data stumbled hard in September. The prints were considerably worse than expected and throw more shade on Q3 GDP growth expectations.

Retail Inventories tumbled 1% MoM in September - the biggest drop since Aug 09...

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And wholesale inventories rose at just 0.3%, missing expectations...

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Notably, motor vehicle inventories dropped 2.6% MoM in September (but remain up 3.8% YoY).