Wholesale inventories in the U.S. showed another substantial increase in the month of March, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday.
The report showed wholesale inventories shot up by 2.3 percent in February after surging by an upwardly revised 2.8 percent in February. The spike in inventories matched the preliminary estimate as well as economist expectations.
The sharp increase in wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable goods and non-durable goods jumped by 2.2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
The Commerce Department said wholesales also advanced by 1.7 percent in March after climbing by 1.5 percent in the previous month.
With inventories and sales both surging, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers for March came in unchanged at 1.22.
Next Tuesday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on business inventories in the month of March. The report includes wholesale, retail and manufacturing inventories.
