The U.S. Census Bureau announced last Friday that sales of merchant wholesalers, seasonally adjusted, were $418.9 billion in December, essentially unchanged from the revised November level and 3.7 percent above the December 2011 level. Total wholesaler inventories, at $497.7 billion on the end of December, were 0.1 percent below the revised November figure but 5.5 percent above the December 2011 figure. The decline in inventories was not forecasted by economists and marks the first drop in six months.

Link: News Release