Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.1%, Commerce Reports

.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.1% in December, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The gain, which followed a revised 0.9% increase in December, was below analysts’ forecasts of a 0.5% rise, Bloomberg reported.

Wholesale sales rose 1% following a 1.2% rise in December.

Wholesale durable goods sales rose 1.4%, following a 1.7% gain the previous month.

Non-durables inventories rose 0.1%, following a 1.5% increase. Sales rose 0.6%, the same as December.

The inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures the amount of time wholesale goods went unsold, fell to 1.14 months from 1.15 months.

holesale inventories account for about a third of total business stockpiles.