by Laura Conaway

Part of companies' work in recovering from a recession is getting their businesses to be the right size for the limping market. They have to stop falling before they can start climbing.

We're seeing more signs of that today from the U.S. Census Bureau, which says that wholesale inventories fell by 1.4 percent from July to June — meaning merchants stockpiled less stuff — and 12.8 percent from the year before. On the flip side, sales rose by 0.5 percent from June. Sales were down 12.8 percent from a year ago.