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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.1% in October, below expectations and slower than the 0.7% increase in sales, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, fell to 1.26 in October from 1.27 in the previous month. This is the lowest inventory-to-sales ratio since July. Economists had been expecting the nation's inventories to rise 0.3% in October. A new piece of data in the report was the 0.4% increase in October retail inventories, which follows a 0.1% gain in September.

The employment report for November, released Friday by the US Labor Department, showed a decline in job-creation over the previous month. Overall, non-farm payrolls rose by 94,000, sharply down from the 170,000 rise in October.

OIL futures retreated yesterday, giving back much of the previous session's big gain after the government's November jobs report was not as robust as some traders had hoped. The Labor Department report "wasn't a blockbuster number that would keep feeding the oil bull," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp, in Chicago. The report showed employers added 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November following October's 170,000 gain. The data quashed the hopes of some oil investors that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a half percent instead of the more widely expected quarter percent when it meets Tuesday, Flynn said. Interest rate cuts tend to weaken the dollar against other currencies. Oil futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling. Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell US$1.95 to settle at US$88.28 a barrel on the New

Crude oil futures rose yesterday as traders closed out December contracts and also on investors' belief that supplies are not as plentiful as a government report at first suggested. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $1.67 to settle at $95.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But January crude, which now becomes the front-month contract, closed $1.26 below that, settling up $1.77 at $93.84 a barrel. December crude had lost 66 cents in the previous session after the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected 2.8 million barrel increase in inventories last week. But much of that supply build occurred on the West Coast, where the energy infrastructure is largely isolated from the rest of the U.S., analysts said. "I think the market may have realized overnight that that EIA report wasn't that bearish," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. Reports that ministers from

Net foreign acquisition of long-maturity U.S. securities totaled $5.8 billion in September, recovering from record sales the previous month, according to a U.S. Treasury Department report released Friday.

CORN fell the most last week on speculation that higher supplies in China, the world's largest consumer of the grain, will cut demand for imports. China will produce 145 million metric tons of corn this season, up from 143 million estimated in October, the US Department of Agriculture said in a report on Friday. That would push the country's reserves to 28.1 million tons before the next harvest, up from 25.7 million estimated a month ago. Still, the stocks would 14 percent off from the previous year, Bloomberg News said. "The trade is unlikely to think that the Chinese are going to import corn anytime soon," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Risk Management Commodities Inc in Lafayette, Indiana. Speculation that China would become a net importer of corn for the first time in 12 years helped push corn prices up 12 percent in the past two months, he said. Corn futures for December delivery fell 2.75 cents, or 0.7 percent, to US$3.8675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade,

NINE senior officials at China's biggest liquor maker have been handed over to prosecutors on charges of corruption and bribery, Xinhua news agency reported today. Wang Xiaojin, former chairman of Anhui Gujing Group Co, has been expelled from the National People's Congress, the report said. Illicit money involved in the case ranged from 300,000 yuan (US$40,214) to five million yuan, the report said. Guo Xinmin, deputy manager of the sales department of Gujing Distillery Co, allegedly received more than five million yuan in bribes and Zhu Renwang, former general manager of the department, received a total of two million yuan from more than 30 clients, Bozhou prosecutors said. Vice president Li Yunjie received more than two million yuan, the prosecutors said. Other involved officials are Ruan Kunhua, Gan Shaoyu and Li Wanlin, the prosecutors said. Wang and his wife were taken from their home by the Party's disciplinary personnel in April. Previous reports said that

WALL Street capped a huge week with a sharp advance yesterday after the government's employment report for September and its revision of August's data cooled the market's fears of a recession. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the measure most closely followed by market watchers, reached a new closing high. The Labor Department's report that employers added 110,000 jobs in September _ essentially what analysts had expected _ reassured Wall Street that the job market wasn't pulling back sharply as was feared a month ago. Though the data appeared to lessen the likelihood of an interest rate cut when the Federal Reserve meets Oct. 30-31, investors were relieved that the economy doesn't appear headed for a precipitous slowdown. Strength this year in the job market amid a housing downturn and tighter credit conditions has been an important pillar for the economy. With consumer spending accounting for about two-thirds of US economic activity, investors are eager for workers to continue to collect their paychecks. Much of Wall Street's collective exhale yesterday owed to a revision in August payrolls, which were updated to show a gain of 89,000 jobs compared with an earlier estimate of loss of 4,000 jobs. The release of the August figure _ when economists had predicted a rise _ sent the Dow down nearly 250 points in a single session and, market watchers say, played a role in the Fed's decision to cut its key interest rate by a larger-than-expected half-percentage point last month. "We're not seeing a weakening of the labor market. There's no indication that the wheels are falling off," said T.J. Marta, economic strategist at RBC Capital Markets. He contends that while the employment figures make it less likely the Fed will cut rates this month, many on Wall Street were relieved to see the economy forging ahead. "It looks bad compared with the rip-roaring days in the housing sector but this is called normalcy." The Dow Jones industrial average rose 91.70, or 0.66 percent, to 14,066.01. The blue chip index set a new trading high of 14,124.54, topping a high of 14,115.51 set Monday, when the index also saw a record close. Broader stock indicators also jumped. The S&P 500 index rose 14.75, or 0.96 percent, to 1,557.59. The advance put the S&P 500 ahead of the previous record close of 1,553.08, which occurred July 19 before stocks began a broad retrenchment amid concerns about credit, housing and the overall economy. The S&P 500

ENERGY futures fell yesterday as traders expecting a weakening of demand in the coming months cashed in profits from the previous session's rally. While an encouraging employment report suggested the economy is weathering the problems affecting the subprime mortgage industry, many energy traders and analysts question whether demand for oil and petroleum products will be strong enough in the fourth quarter to support US$80 a barrel oil. Others argue that demand for oil will increase as home heating season progresses. While crude inventories have risen for two straight weeks, supplies of gasoline and distillates including heating oil fell last week. Investors betting demand will tighten in the fourth quarter drove oil prices US$1.50 higher on Thursday. Yesterday, light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 22 cents to settle at US$81.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures ended the week down 44 cents a barrel, or 0.5 percent. Trading yesterday was volatile, with prices alternately rallying and falling. "There's profit-taking going on after yesterday's rally," said Addison Armstrong, an analyst with TFS Energy Futures LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. The quick resolution of many of Thursday's West Coast refinery outages also pressured prices yesterday. November gasoline fell 0.29 cent to settle at US$2.0493 a gallon on the Nymex, ending the week down 1.9 cents, or 0.9 percent. Heating oil futures fell 0.78 cent to settle at US$2.2235 a gallon. Both contracts surged more than 5 cents on Thursday. Natural gas for November delivery fell 33.9 cents to settle at US$7.073 per 1,000 cubic feet. Forecasters see little chance that a series of storms strung from the Gulf of Mexico to the central Atlantic will develop into tropical storms that could threaten critical gas and oil infrastructure. In London, November Brent crude fell 7 cents to settle at US$78.90 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices have been volatile in recent days as investors have battled over whether demand will grow or weaken in the fourth quarter. "It's a stalemate right now," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "People really don't know what the next move will be." Energy Department data suggests demand for gasoline is falling, and many analysts think that's a function of this year's record gas prices. But others argue that falling refinery activity and heating oil inventories sugg

OIL prices fell today in Asia, extending a decline from the previous session that came after an unexpected increase in US crude oil inventories. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 28 cents to US$79.66 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The Nymex crude contract fell 11 cents to settle at US$79.94 a barrel in yesterday's floor session. Crude oil futures have fallen four straight days after trading at near record levels last week. The weekly inventory report from the US Energy Department's Energy Information Administration was mixed, analysts said. Crude oil supplies unexpectedly rose in the week ended Sept. 28. Gasoline and distillate inventories unexpectedly fell. And while the drop in gasoline supplies is supportive, demand for the fuel is falling, and that will pressure gasoline prices and crude futures down the road, analysts said. The EIA said in its report that crude supplies rose 1.2 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had predicted that inventories fell 400,000 barrels. One million barrels of that increase were on the West Coast, the EIA said. Oil and gas infrastructure there is isolated from the rest of the country, though, and that might mean shortages elsewhere would support prices. Gasoline inventories fell 100,000 barrels last week, while supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 1.2 million barrels. Analysts had expected gasoline inventories to grow 400,000 barrels, and distillate supplies to increase 700,000 barrels. Refinery utilization rose by 0.6 percentage points to 87.5 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected an 0.4 percentage point increase. Oil's true value is closer to US$65 a barrel, said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in New York, instead of at the near US$80 a barrel or higher range it has been trading. Many analysts feel oil prices have been driven up by speculative buying, and they argue that the market's underlying supply and demand fundamentals do not support the record prices of recent weeks. However, while many analysts expect oil prices to begin a seasonal decline into winter, few are willing to predict when that slide will begin. Oil prices normally drop off every year in the period between the northern summer driving season and the US and European winter. November Brent crude fell 23 cents to US$76.95 a barrel on the ICE futures