The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Monday the U.S. wholesale inventories rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent m-o-m in December, following a revised 0.4 percent m-o-m advance in November. That was the largest monthly gain since October 2013.

Economists had expected a 0.3 percent m-o-m gain in December.

According to the report, furniture inventories increased at the fastest pace since the end of 2012, and hardware inventories clocked the largest month-over-month gain since June 2012. Most other major item categories' inventories increased.

In y-o-y terms, inventories surged 7.3 in December.

The ratio of inventories to sales in December was 1.33 compared to 1.25 in December 2017.