A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed business inventories in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in the month of January.
The Commerce Department said business inventories were virtually unchanged in January after rising by a downwardly revised 0.3 percent in December.
Economists had expected business inventories to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
While the report said retail inventories rose by 0.4 percent, the increase was offset by a 0.3 percent decline in wholesale inventories and a 0.1 percent dip in manufacturing inventories.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business sales tumbled by 1.3 percent in January after coming in unchanged in December.
Wholesale sales plunged by 1.7 percent during the month, while retail and manufacturing sales slumped by 1.1 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.
With inventories unchanged and sales falling sharply, the total business inventories/sales ratio crept up to 1.39 in January from 1.38 in December.
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