Business inventories rose 0.4% to $1.717 trillion in March, while sales increased 1.0% to $1.326 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Processing Content
The March inventory rise followed a 0.5% gain in February while sales were up 0.9% in February.
On a year-over-year basis, inventories climbed 4.7% over the same month in 2013, while sales grew 4.3% in that period.
The total business inventories/sales ratio, based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of March, was 1.30, unchanged from the previous month's 1.30 ratio. The inventory/sales ratio for March 2013 was 1.29.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 0.4% increase in inventories.
