A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of February.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories spiked by 2.5 percent in February after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in January.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to shoot up by 2.1 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
Inventories of durable goods jumped by 1.9 percent, while inventories of non-durable goods soared by 3.3 percent.
The report also showed wholesale sales surged by 1.7 percent in February after skyrocketing by 5.0 percent in January.
With inventories spiking by more than sales, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers inched up to 1.21 in February from 1.20 in January.
