--US March wholesale inventories +0.1%; sales -1.3%
--US wholesale sales drop biggest since January 1996
--US March wholesale inventory/sales ratio 1.32; February 1.30
--US February wholesale inventories revised to -0.2% from -0.1%

Washington, May 8 (BridgeNews) - Inventories at U.S. wholesale merchants crept up 0.1% in March, their first rise since November, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Wholesale sales sank 1.3%, their steepest drop since January 1996.
Consequently, the stock-to-sales ratio jumped to 1.32--the highest level since April 1999--from February's 1.30.
* * * The increase in wholesalers' inventories follows a revised 0.2% decline in February, originally reported down 0.1%.
On an unadjusted basis, March inventories totaled $328.144 billion and were 3.6% higher than a year earlier.
The rise in inventories was led by a 1.2% surge in stocks of non-durable goods, led by increases in drugs and chemicals. Wholesalers' inventories of durable goods slipped 0.4% in March. Widespread declines in that sector included a 0.7% drop in automotive inventories and a 1.7% decrease in professional equipment. Wholesale trade is the second of three reports on the U.S. March inventories situation. Factory inventories fell 0.6% in March. (See story .4733 )
Together, factory inventories and wholesale inventories account for about 70% of U.S. business inventories data.
The March business inventories report, set for release May 14, will complete the picture by including data on retail inventories. Economists expect a 0.2% decline in total business inventories for March, according to the median result of a BridgeNews survey.

WHOLESALER SALES, RATIOS
The 1.3% drop in March wholesaler sales was more than double February's revised 0.6% decrease. It was the steepest decline since January 1996, when sales tumbled 1.5%, Commerce said. March wholesale sales were down an unadjusted 1.7% compared to March 2000.
For durable goods, the inventory-to-sales ratio jumped to 1.65 in March from 1.63 in February. For non-durable goods, the ratio of 0.97 was up from 0.94 in February.