Wholesale inventories in the U.S. increased by slightly more than anticipated in the month of February, the Commerce Department revealed in a report released on Friday.
The report said wholesale inventories climbed by 0.6 percent in February after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.4 percent in January.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.3 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
The slightly bigger than expected increase in wholesale inventories came as inventories of non-durable goods surged up by 1.1 percent and inventories of durable goods rose by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the report showed wholesales sales fell by 0.8 percent in February after soaring by 4.4 percent in January.
Sales of durable goods tumbled by 2.2 percent during the month, more than offsetting a 0.5 percent increase in sales of non-durable goods.
With inventories rising and sales slumping, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers ticked up to 1.27 in February from 1.25 in January.
Next Thursday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on business inventories in the month of February. Business inventories are expected to rise by 0.4 percent.
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