U.S. wholesale inventories fell for a second consecutive month in November, indicating a slow pace of inventory accumulation that could hinder economic growth in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday that wholesale inventories slipped 0.2% as estimated last month. Stocks at wholesalers dropped 0.3% in October. Economists polled by Reuters had expected that inventories would be unrevised. Economists expect business inventories to subtract from GDP in the fourth quarter. Growth estimates for the October-December quarter are as high as a 2.2% annualized rate. Private inventory investment contributed 1.27 percentage points to the economy’s 4.9% growth pace in the third quarter. Excluding autos, wholesale inventories slipped 0.1% in November. This component goes into the calculation of GDP.
