the level of us inventories  products waiting to be sold  climbed 23 in october as companies sought to stock up ahead of the holidays businesses have had trouble keeping inventories on hand because of strong sales and big delays at us ports that are keeping goods from getting to where they are needed the delays are likely to persist for some time to come sales in the month rose 22 the inventorytosale ratio increased sharply to 131 from 122 the ratio reflects how long it would take a company to sell all the goods sitting on warehouse shelves the increase in october indicates that companies made some progress in stocking up