US wholesale stocks rise in February

The US Commerce Department said today that US wholesale inventories rose 0.6% in February versus 1.4% in January, and analysts had expected US wholesale inventories to reach 0.5% in February.

On an annual basis, US wholesale inventories rose 2.0% in the 12 months to February, and sales at wholesalers declined 0.8% in February after rising 4.4% in January. The data also showed that the wholesale inventories component that goes into the GDP calculation rose 0.8% in February, and auto and parts sales inventories fell 0.6% in February.