U.S. business inventories unexpectedly fell in January amid a big drop among wholesalers, suggesting that inventory investment could weigh on economic growth in the first quarter.
Inventories fell 0.1% after remaining unchanged in December, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau reported Wednesday. Economists consulted by Reuters expected inventories, a key component of GDP and one of the most volatile, to increase by 0.1% in January.
Inventories increased 1.0% year-on-year. The Census Bureau is still catching up on data releases following last year’s government shutdown. Retail inventories rose 0.3% in January, after rising 0.1% in December.
Wholesale inventories fell 0.5%, while inventories in the manufacturing sector rose 0.1%.
