U.S. Wholesale Inventories Climb More Than Expected In November

(RTTNews) - Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose by much more than expected in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday, although the report also showed a drop in wholesale sales.

The report said wholesale inventories climbed by 0.8 percent in November after rising by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in October.

Economists had been expecting wholesale inventories to edge up by 0.3 percent following the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Inventories of farm product raw materials surged up by 5.7 percent, while inventories of computers and peripheral equipment and drugs and sundries also showed notable increases.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales fell by 0.3 percent in November after coming in unchanged in October.

The decrease came as a 0.8 percent drop in sales of non-durable goods more than offset a 0.2 percent uptick in sales of durable goods.

Sales of chemicals and allied products tumbled 4.1 percent, while sales of beer, wine, and distilled alcoholic beverages were down 2.1 percent.

With inventories rising and sales falling, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers inched up to 1.21 in November from 1.20 in October. The ratio came in at 1.16 in the same month a year ago.