2020.04.0914:43:00UTC+00U.S. Wholesale Inventories Slump More Than Expected In February

Reflecting decreases in inventories of both durable and non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories slid by 0.7 percent in February after falling by a revised 0.6 percent in January.

Economists had expected wholesale inventories to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.4 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected decline in wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable goods slumped by 0.8 percent and inventories of non-durable goods fell by 0.4 percent.

The report also said wholesale sales tumbled by 0.8 percent in February following a 1.3 percent jump in the previous month.

While sales of durable goods inched up by 0.1 percent, the uptick was more than offset by a 1.6 percent nosedive in sales of non-durable goods.

With inventories and sales both falling, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers in February was unchanged from the previous month at 1.31.