2021.05.1415:10:00UTC+00U.S. Business Inventories Increase In Line With Estimates In March

The Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing business inventories in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of March.

The report said business inventories rose by 0.3 percent in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in February.

Economists had expected business inventories to increase by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.

The uptick in business inventories came as wholesale inventories surged up by 1.3 percent and manufacturing inventories climbed by 0.7 percent.

On the other hand, the report showed retail inventories tumbled by 1.4 percent, partly offsetting the increases in the other sectors.

The report also showed business sales spiked by 5.7 percent in March after slumping by 1.6 percent in February.

Retail sales skyrocketed by 10.4 percent, while wholesale sales surged up by 4.6 percent and manufacturing sales jumped by 2.1 percent.

With sales spiking by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio fell to 1.23 in March from 1.30 in February.