US: Wholesale inventories increase by 1.1% in December vs 0.2% expected

"Total inventories of merchant wholesalers were $661.8 billion at the end of December, up 1.1 percent from the revised November level," the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Monday.

Key takeaways from the press release

• Total inventories were up 7.3 percent from the revised December 2017 level.
• December 2018 sales of merchant wholesalers were $497.2 billion, down 1.0 percent from the revised November level, but were up 1.0 percent from the December 2017 level.
• The December inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.33.
  • The December 2017 ratio was 1.25.