The Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing wholesale inventories in U.S. increased by slightly less than expected in the month of March.
The report said wholesale inventories rose by 0.4 percent in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in February.
The Commerce Department said inventories of durable goods climbed by 0.6 percent, while inventories of non-durable goods inched up by 0.1 percent.
The report also said wholesale sales increased by 0.6 percent in March after surging by 2.0 percent in February. While sales of durable goods shot up by 1.0 percent, sales of non-durable goods rose by 0.3 percent.
With inventories and sales both increasing, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers came in unchanged from the previous month at 1.30.