Business inventories rose 0.1% to $1.764 trillion in December, while sales were down 0.9% to $1.333 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
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The December inventory rise followed an unrevised 0.2% gain in November, while sales were revised down to a 0.4% decline from the originally reported 0.2% dip in November.
On a year-over-year basis, inventories climbed 3.9% over the same month in 2013, while sales grew 0.9% in that period.
The total business inventories/sales ratio, based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of December, was 1.33, up from the previous month's 1.31 ratio. The inventory/sales ratio for December 2013 was 1.29.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 0.2% increase in inventories.
