WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed U.S. business inventories increased in line with economist estimates in the month of January.
The Commerce Department said business inventories rose by 0.3 percent in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.8 percent in December.
Economists had expected inventories to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The uptick in business inventories in January was largely due to a jump in wholesale inventories, which surged up by 1.3 percent.
The report also showed manufacturing inventories inched up by 0.1 percent, while retail inventories fell by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business sales spiked by 4.7 percent in January following a 1.0 percent increase in December.
Retail sales skyrocketed by 7.4 percent and wholesale sales soared by 4.9 percent, while manufacturing sales jumped by 1.9 percent.
With sales increasing by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio dropped to 1.26 in January from 1.32 in December.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX