(From the FT.com) US wholesale inventories rose for the first time in more than a year in October as companies started stocking up to meet renewed demand. Commerce department figures showed that wholesale stocks rose by 0.3 per cent in October from the month before, beating economists’ predictions that they would continue to shrink. During the last year wholesalers have been slashing their inventories, which have declined by 13.5 per cent since October 2008.

In October, wholesalers loaded up on petroleum, motor vehicle parts and supplies, drugs and alcohol.

“The figures showed a concentration of upside surprises in the petroleum and farm product components that suggests a big upward price impact,” said Mike Englund, an economist at Action Economics.

Read more here: US wholesale inventories show surprise rise