Washington, Dc, February 10--Wholesale inventories were up 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted $328.27 billion in December, after rising 1.2% in November, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
November inventories were originally estimated going up 1.1%. On an unadjusted basis, inventories increased 11% in 2004, which was a record. Stocks grew 2.3% in 2003.
Wholesale sales rose by 0.9% in December to a seasonally adjusted $286.84 billion. That followed a revised 0.8% climb in November. For 2004, sales rose a record 13.8% after climbing 5.2% in 2003.
The inventory-to-sales ratio fell to 1.14 in December from 1.15 in November. The ratio measures how many months it would take for a firm to exhaust its current inventory.
Inventories of durable goods rose 0.3% in December. Sales of durables were up 2.3%.
Non-durable inventories rose 0.5%. Sales of non-durables were up 2.3%.
