US wholesale trade sales fall 2.1% in March

Figure comes against market estimates of 0.5% monthly gain

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Wholesale trade sales in the US declined 2.1% in March to $655.3 billion, compared to the previous month, according to Commerce Department figures released Monday.

Wholesale trade sales, also known as the total sales of merchant wholesalers, was expected to show a monthly gain of 0.5%. The figure in February showed an increase of 0.4%.

On an annual basis, wholesale trade sales in March were down 2.9% compared to the same month of last year.

Wholesale inventories, on the other hand, remained almost unchanged at $918.5 billion at the end of March, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

The figure, which measures the change in the total value of goods held in inventory by wholesalers, was expected to show a rise of 0.1% in March.

Wholesale inventories in February had increased 0.1% from the previous month to stand at $918.8 billion.

Annually, wholesale inventories were down 9.1% in March, from the same month of 2022.

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