Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in March, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Wholesale sales dropped 0.2%.
Economists expected inventories would be up 0.3% and sales would rise 0.5%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Inventories for February were a revised to show a 0.2% gain, first reported as a 0.3% increase. February sales were off 0.6%, first reported as a 0.2% decrease.
Inventories of durable goods were up 0.5% in March following a 0.4% increase in February. Sales of durable goods increased 1.3% in March following a 2.8% drop in February.
Inventories of nondurable goods slid 0.4% in March following a 0.1% dip in February. Sales of nondurable goods slumped 1.5% in March following a 1.6% gain in February.
The inventories-to-sales ratio held at 1.30 in March, unchanged from 1.30 in February. A year ago the inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.19%.
