The U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday morning that U.S. wholesale trade rose 0.7% in February to $436.1 billion from a downwardly revised January total and up 3.1% compared with February 2013. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected a rise of 0.6%, matching the rise recorded in January.

February sales of durable goods were up 0.1% from January and were up 2.9% from their year-ago level. Sales of nondurable goods were up 1.2% from January and up 3.3% from last February. Sales of petroleum and petroleum products were up 4% from last month, and sales of beer, wine and distilled alcoholic beverages were up 1.9%.

Wholesale trade measures the dollar value of sales made and inventories held by merchant wholesalers. It is a component of all business sales and inventories, and the Census showed that the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers was 1.19, versus 1.17 a year earlier and level with the January reading.

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