Inventories Fall, Sales Surge: Business inventories fell...

Inventories Fall, Sales Surge: Business inventories fell in February for the second time in three months while sales surged in another sign that the economy has avoided a recession, the government reported. Inventories on shelves and back lots shrank 0.4%, the steepest drop since December, 1986, to a seasonally adjusted $794.6 billion. Sales, meanwhile, rose 1.3% to a seasonally adjusted $535.4 billion, the largest increase in seven months. All of the strength came in manufacturing, the sector of the economy that had been most affected by sluggishness resulting from the Federal Reserve Board’s high interest rate policy.