After reporting a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. wholesale inventories in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a modest rebound in inventories in March.
The report said wholesale inventories inched up by 0.1 percent in March after falling by a revised 0.6 percent in February.
Economists had expected inventories to rise by about 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
The modest uptick in wholesale inventories reflected a rebound in inventories of non-durable goods, which rose by 0.5 percent in March after slumping by 0.8 percent in February.
Inventories of petroleum and petroleum products surged up by 3.3 percent, while inventories of drugs and druggists' sundries jumped by 2.0 percent.
On the other hand, the report said inventories of durable goods edged down by 0.1 percent in March after sliding by 0.4 percent in the previous month.
A 2.0 percent decrease in inventories of metals and minerals, except petroleum, offset a 1.0 percent increase in inventories of motor vehicles, parts and supplies.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales climbed by 0.7 percent in March after slipping by 0.2 percent in February.
Sales of non-durable goods surged up by 1.6 percent, as sales of petroleum and petroleum products soared by 13.5 percent and sales of farm product materials spiked up by 2.7 percent.
However, reflecting a 2.2 percent decrease in sales of hardware and plumbing and heating equipment, sales of durable goods dipped by 0.2 percent.
The inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers came in at 1.36 in March, unchanged from February but up from 1.32 in the same month last year.
Compared to the same month a year ago, wholesale inventories were up by 0.3 percent in March, while wholesale sales were down by 2.0 percent.
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