Washington, DC, May 10, 2006--Wholesale inventories grew less than expected in March, pushing the inventory-to-sales ratio down after a slight uptick in the previous month.
Wholesalers' inventories in March increased 0.2% to a seasonally adjusted $366.72 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. February inventories rose 0.9%, revised from the 0.8% increase previously reported for that month.
The increase in March wholesale inventories fell short of Wall Street expectations for 0.5% growth.
The report showed wholesale sales grew 0.7% in March at $315.00 billion. That followed a 0.3% increase in February, revised from the virtually unchanged growth previously reported for that month.
The inventory-to-sales ratio--which gauges how long it would take firms to deplete current inventories--edged down to 1.16 months in March from 1.17 months in February. And it remained below the 1.20-month level of a year earlier.
Business inventories across sectors--wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers--rose by $21.9 billion in the first quarter of 2006. But that pace was below the $37.9 billion jump in stocks in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Inventories on a year-over-year basis, wholesale inventories were up 6.3% in March, while sales rose 9.9%. Inventories of durable goods--meant to last three or more years--increased 0.2% in March, after rising 0.6% in February. Durable goods sales were up 0.3%, after growing 0.2% in February. Auto inventories rose 1.0% in March, while sales in this sector fell 2.6%. Machinery inventories rose 0.6% during the month, while machinery sales grew 0.4%.
Inventories of non-durable goods climbed 0.3% in March, after ticking up 1.4% the previous month. Drug inventories were up 0.3%, while drug sales were flat for March. Petroleum inventories were down 2.0% in March but still 25.6% above the year-earlier level. Petroleum sales were up 3.9% in March.
Nondurables sales rose 1.1% in March, after rising 0.3% the previous month. March nondurables sales were 10.7% higher than a year earlier.
