Business inventories rose 0.5% in February 2010 from the January level, but were still 6.7% below their level in February 2009. Sales increased 0.3% in February 2010 from the prior month and were 6.8% above their level a year ago.
Retail and food services sales in March 2010 increased 1.6% to $363.2 billion from February. This was up 7.6% from the March 2009 level. Excluding autos, retail and food services sales rose 0.6% from the previous month and increased 6.4% from the prior year, to $300.5 billion.
The U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services in February 2010 increased 7.4% to $39.7 billion. Exports increased 0.2% to $143.2 billion, and imports increased 1.7% to $182.9 billion.
Wholesale inventories in February 2010 increased by 0.6% to $393.5 billion from January and were down 7.4% from a year ago. Wholesale sales increased 0.8% to $338.7 billion and were 9.8% higher than a year ago.
Construction spending was $846.2 billion in February 2010, 1.3% below January 2010 and 12.8% below February 2009. The January 2010 level was revised down 3.0% from last month’s release.
