U.S. Business Inventories Rise In Line With Estimates In February

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed business inventories in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said business inventories rose by 0.2 percent in February after climbing by 0.3 percent in January.

Wholesale inventories led the way higher, rising by 0.3 percent in February after growing by 0.8 percent in the previous month.

Manufacturing inventories crept up by 0.1 percent for the second straight month, while retail inventories also inched up by 0.1 percent in February after coming in unchanged in January.

Meanwhile, the report showed a notable rebound by business sales, which shot up by 1.2 percent in February after falling by 0.6 percent in January.

Wholesale sales surged by 2.4 percent, while manufacturing sales climbed by 0.7 percent and retail sales rose by 0.4 percent.

With sales jumping by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio edged down to 1.35 in February from 1.36 in January.