Business inventories were unchanged at $1.762 trillion in January, while sales were down 2.0% to $1.303 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The January inventories followed a revised flat reading in December, while sales were revised to a 1.0% decline from the originally reported 0.9% dip in December.
On a year-over-year basis, inventories climbed 3.4% over the same month in 2014, while sales slid 0.3% in that period.
The total business inventories/sales ratio, based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January, was 1.35, up from the previous month's 1.33 ratio. The inventory/sales ratio for January 2014 was 1.30.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 0.1% increase in inventories.
