Business inventories rose 0.2% to $1.760 trillion in October, while sales were down 0.1% to $1.351 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
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The October inventory rise followed an unrevised 0.3% gain in September, while sales were unrevised at an unchanged level in September.
On a year-over-year basis, inventories climbed 4.8% over the same month in 2013, while sales grew 3.4% in that period.
The total business inventories/sales ratio, based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of October, was 1.30, unchanged from the previous month's 1.30 ratio. The inventory/sales ratio for October 2013 was 1.29.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 0.2% increase in inventories.
