Manufacturers' and trade inventories in the U.S. continued to post stable growth in January, rising 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted $1.917 trillion from the revised $1.906 trillion in December 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
Year over year, business inventories rose 3.7% from January 2017.
Sales slipped 0.2% month over month to a seasonally adjusted $1.426 trillion in January but rose 5.7% from the prior year.
The total business inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.34 at the end of January, compared with 1.37 in January 2017.
