December Business Inventories Gain 0.1%; Sales Rise 0.3%

WASHINGTON — Business inventories edged up 0.1% to $1,623.1 billion in December, while sales rose 0.3% to $1,274.1 billion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The December inventory gain followed a revised 0.2% uptick in November, originally reported as a 0.3% advance.

The December 0.1% increase in inventories was lower than the expectations of economists polled by Thomson Reuters, who predicted a 0.3% gain.

Inventories climbed 5.1% over the same month in 2011.

The increase in December sales followed a revised 0.9% increase in November, originally reported as a 1.0% gain.

December sales were 3.6% above sales for the same month in 2011.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of December was 1.27, lower than the previous month's ratio of 1.28 but above the 1.26 December 2011 ratio.

The last time the ratio was at 1.27 was last May.

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