By Ed Frankl
U.S. business inventories declined marginally in March, a signal of a more fragile economic growth in the country, according to data published Wednesday.
Inventories declined 0.1% over the month, adjusted Commerce Department figures showed, in line with the expectations of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. The result flipped the downwardly revised 0.3% increase in February.
Inventories climbed slightly at both manufacturers and retailers, with the overall decline instead driven by a 0.4% contraction at merchant wholesalers.
The ratio of inventories to sales, a guide to how many months it would take for businesses to clear their inventories at the current sales rate, held at 1.37 in March, the same as a month earlier. The ratio was 1.39 in March of last year.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-15-24 1033ET
