Wholesale merchant inventories were up 0.6 percent in February from January levels, a positive sign that trucks may have more to carry in the near future.


While inventories were up to $395.5 billion at the end of February, they were down 7.4 percent from the year ago period. Sales of merchant wholesalers gained 0.8 percent from January and were up 9.8 percent from the February 2009 level.

Inventories of durable goods were up 0.5 percent from last month, but were down 12.3 percent from last February. Inventories of computer and computer peripheral equipment and software increased 2.5 percent from January, while lumber and other construction materials saw a boost in inventories of 2 percent.

Nondurable goods inventories were 0.8 percent higher than January and 0.7 percent higher than last February. Meanwhile, inventories of petroleum and petroleum products increased 3.1 percent from last month, and inventories of chemicals and allied products gained 2.9 percent.