Wholesale Inventories Slip 0.3%; Sales Jump 1.7% in February

WASHINGTON — Sales of merchant wholesalers rose 1.7% to $422.5 billion in February, while inventories fell 0.3%, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The February sales advance followed an unrevised 0.8% decline in January. The February increase was beyond the expectations of economists polled by Thomson Reuters, who expected a median 1.3% increase. It was the largest month-over-month increase since a 2.2% increase between October and November of 2012.

Sales of durable goods were up 0.4%, while non-durable goods shot up 2.7% on the back of a 10.6% rise in petroleum sales. The petroleum sales increase was the biggest since a 12.5% spike from May to June 2008. Overall, the February sales figure was 3.7% above the level for the same month a year ago.

Inventories ticked down 0.3% to $501.4 billion in February after rising a revised 0.8% the previous month, originally reported as a 1.2% jump, Commerce reported. That was the sharpest decline since a 0.7% drop from August to September 2011.

The economists had expected a 0.5% inventory advance. Durables were up 0.2%, but nondurables fell 0.9%.

The February inventory level was 4.7% above the level of a year ago.

February's inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, was 1.19, below the 1.21 January ratio but just above the 1.18 ratio a year ago.

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