Wholesale inventories in the U.S. increased by much more than anticipated in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday, with the report also showing a notable increase in wholesale sales.
The report showed that wholesale inventories increased by 1.0 percent in December after coming in unchanged in November. Economists had expected inventories to increase by about 0.4 percent compared to the 0.1 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
The bigger than expected increase in inventories reflected a 0.7 percent increase in inventories of durable goods as well as a 1.3 percent increase in inventories of non-durable goods.
Inventories of automotive goods showed a large 2.8 percent increase, while drug inventories jumped 2.1 percent and apparel inventories rose 1.7 percent.
The Commerce Department also said that wholesale sales surged up by 1.3 percent in December following a 0.5 percent increase in November.
The increase in wholesale sales was largely due to a 2.4 percent jump in sales of durable goods. Sales of non-durable goods showed a more modest 0.4 percent increase.
With inventories and sales both rising in December, the wholesale inventories/sale ratio was unchanged from the previous month at 1.15. The ratio came in at 1.16 in December of 2010.
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