MW: Dec. wholesale inventories down unexpected 0.1%
By Greg Robb
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Inventories at the wholesale level fell 0.1% in December, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists were expecting an increase of about 0.4%. This is only the third decline in inventories since January 2009. Analysts said the inventory cycle is slowing. The drop may reflect a bigger drag on fourth quarter gross domestic product from inventories than the 1.27 percentage point drop previously estimated. However, a surprising narrowing of the trade deficit in December is expected to push Q4 GDP into positive territory. Sales of wholesalers were flat in December. The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.19 in December, unchanged from November.
