WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing a sharp increase in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of March.
The report said wholesale inventories shot up by 1.3 percent in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.9 percent in February.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to jump by 1.4 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
Inventories of non-durable goods led the way higher, spiking by 3.2 percent, while inventories of durable goods crept up by 0.2 percent.
The Commerce Department also said wholesale sales surged by 2.8 percent in March after leaping by 2.6 percent in February.
Sales of non-durable goods soared by 5.3 percent, while sales of durable goods rose by 0.3 percent.
With sales increasing by much more than inventories, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers dipped to 1.21 in March from 1.23 in February.
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