Tracker
Inventory-to-Sales Ratio
Business inventories measured against monthly sales.
1.32
Ratio · latest, Mar 2026
vs prior month ▼ 0.8%
vs year ago ▼ 4.3%
Hover the line to read any month. Drag across the chart to zoom; double-click to reset.
Source: FRED · ISRATIO · series · Jan 1992 to Mar 2026
· latest-revised
Reading it. How many months of sales businesses hold in inventory. A rising ratio can mean stockpiling or softening demand; a falling one can mean lean supply chains or strong sales. Read alongside other activity data, not on its own.
About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.