The Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing business inventories in the U.S. crept slightly higher in the month of December.
The report said business inventories inched up by 0.1 percent in December after coming in unchanged in November. Economists had expected business inventories to remain flat.
The modest increase in business inventories came as wholesale inventories rose by 0.2 percent, while manufacturing and retail inventories both edged up by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business sales climbed by 0.5 percent in December after growing by 0.6 percent in November.
While retail sales came in unchanged, manufacturing sales increased by 0.5 percent and wholesale sales jumped by 1.0 percent.
With sales rising by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio slipped to 1.36 in December from 1.37 in November.
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