The Commerce Department released a report on Monday showing U.S. wholesale inventories were unexpectedly unchanged in the month of March.
The report said wholesale inventories were virtually unchanged in March, while revised data showed inventories were also unchanged in February.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to inch up by 0.1 percent, matching the uptick originally reported for the previous month.
The Commerce Department said inventories are durable goods were unchanged in March, while inventories of non-durable goods dipped by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the report said wholesale sales tumbled by 2.1 percent in March after rising by 0.4 percent in February.
Sales of durable goods plunged by 2.3 percent during the month, while sales of non-durable goods slumped by 1.9 percent.
Reflecting the steep drop in sales, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers climbed to 1.40 in March from 1.37 in February.
