Inventories held by businesses on shelves and backlots shot up in January by the largest amount in nearly two years.The Commerce Department reported Thursday that business inventories rose by eight-tenths of one percent in January, a much larger gain than the one-half percent increase that economists had been expecting.The big jump likely reflected an unwanted rise in inventories as business confidence falters in the face of the sharp slowdown in overall economic activity.
Inventories rise in January