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U.S. business inventories rose in January, while sales dropped slightly, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Manufacturing and trade inventories rose 1 percent to an end of the month total of $1.642 trillion, while sales slipped 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted $1.268 trillion.
Inventories rose 5.6 percent from January 2012, while sales rose 2.9 percent over the past 12 months.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January was 1.29, up from the ratio of 1.26 in January 2012.
