U.S. wholesale inventories edged up by 0.8% month over month in January and rose 4.8% from the previous year, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, rose to a seasonally adjusted $619.05 billion at the end of January from an upwardly revised $613.94 billion in December 2017.
Sales of merchant wholesalers fell 1.1% to $492.56 billion in January from a downwardly revised $498.15 billion in the previous month. In annual terms, sales rose 6.7%.
The inventories-to-sales ratio stood at 1.26 in January from 1.28 in January 2017.
