2021.05.0715:06:00UTC+00U.S. Wholesale Inventories Jump Slightly Less Than Expected In March

The Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing wholesale inventories in the U.S. jumped by slightly less than anticipated in the month of March.

The report said wholesale inventories surged up by 1.3 percent in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 1.0 percent in February.

Economists had expected wholesale inventories to spike by 1.4 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The jump in wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable goods shot up by 1.3 percent and inventories of non-durable goods surged up by 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the report showed wholesales sales soared by 4.6 percent in March after coming in unchanged in February.

Sales of durable goods spiked by 3.7 percent during the month, while sales of non-durable goods skyrocketed by 5.5 percent.

With sales jumping by more than inventories, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers fell to 1.22 in March from 1.26 in February.