Inventories declined in January as they have for more than two years.

Inventories declined in December, continuing a trend of each month over the last two years.

But the data presented yesterday showed that the inventories had sharply declined in recent months.

At the same time, customers' inventories of aluminum gradually declined.

The first is that inventories have declined for six straight weeks in the United States, something we haven't seen since last summer.

Inventories of electronics parts held by manufacturers declined 1.2 percent in January.

So output is somewhat off and inventories of gasoline are declining.

As inventories have actually declined, the task force concluded market pressures are most likely to blame.

The surprise in the numbers, some analysts said, was that inventories did not decline as much as expected.

But inventories declined - a potential sign of business concern over the strength of future demand.