Yesterday, the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers reported North American unit sales in October rose for all equipment classes. Row-crop tractor sales increased 34%, combines were up 40%, four-wheel drive tractors sales grew by 33%, small tractors sales rose 25% and utility tractors sales increased by 17%.

Equipment inventories were also above year-ago levels. Sequentially, inventories of row-crop tractors rose 2%, small tractors increased 2%, utility tractors grew by 2% and four-wheel drive tractors rose 7%, while inventories of combines declined 5%.

“We believe [this] data should provide relief to investors who expect sales to fall off in light of drought,” says Eric Crawford, a machinery analyst for UBS Global Equity Research.