Wholesale inventories in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of February, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, although the report also showed a notable rebound by wholesale sales.
The report showed that wholesale inventories dipped by 0.3 percent in February following a downwardly revised 0.8 percent increase in January.
The drop came as a surprise to economists, who had expected inventories to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.2 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
The unexpected drop reflected a 0.9 percent decrease in inventories of non-durable goods, which came amid a 5.7 percent plunge in inventories of farm product raw materials and a 3.0 percent decrease in inventories of drugs and druggists' sundries.
On the other hand, the report said inventories of durable goods edged up by 0.2 percent due largely to a 2.2 percent jump in inventories of computer and computer peripheral equipment and software.
The Commerce Department also said wholesale sales surged up by 1.7 percent in February after falling by 0.8 percent in January.
Sales of non-durable goods jumped by 2.7 percent amid a sharp 10.6 increase in sales of petroleum and petroleum products.
The report said sales of durable goods rose by 0.4 percent due in part to a 2.3 percent increase in sales of computer and computer peripheral equipment and software.
Excluding the jump in sales of petroleum and petroleum products, wholesale sales inched up by just 0.1 percent in February.
With sales rising and inventories falling, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers dropped to 1.19 in February from 1.21 in January. The ratio came in at 1.18 in February of 2012.
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