Stocks at U.S. wholesalers contracted in December, with the fall driven by inventories of longer-lasting goods, Commerce Department data said Friday.
Inventories at merchant wholesalers were down 0.5% on month in December, according to adjusted figures, matching expectations of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. That compares with an upwardly revised 0.1% decline in November.
The gauge is a key metric in estimating the U.S.'s quarterly gross domestic product.
Inventories of durable goods--products made to last longer than three years--dropped 0.6% while for nondurable they fell 0.2%.
The ratio of inventories to sales--measuring how many months it would take for wholesalers to sell current stocks--dropped to 1.31 in December, from 1.33 in November and 1.35 in December 2023.