Washington, DC, January 14--Business inventories rose 1.0 percent in November, according to the Commerce Department. The department also reported that sales by manufacturers, retailers and merchant wholesalers rose 0.4 percent during the month, following an increase of 1.4 percent in October.
Analysts were expecting an increase of 0.6 percent increase in inventories, following a 0.4 percent rise in October.
The inventory-to-sales ratio inched up to 1.31 in November, from 1.30 in October.
Retail inventories were up 1.1% in November after dropping 0.4%. Auto inventories increased 1.6%, after falling 2.2% in October.
