growth in us business inventories rose robustly in february in a sign that firms kept efforts to replenish stockpiles amid persistent supplychain bottlenecks business inventories rose 15 in february after increasing 13 in january according to data from the us commerce department released thursday economists polled by the wall street journal expected inventories to advance 13 inventories rose on month by 25 at wholesalers by 12 at retailers and by 06 at manufacturers the data showed the inventorysales ratio was up to 126 from 125 the previous month inventories are expected to continue rising in the shortterm but businesses will face a more difficult environment as lockdowns in china and the war in ukraine are likely to put more stress on supply chains and keep commodity prices high economists say