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Wholesale inventories fell 1.5% in February, as sales at wholesalers fell for the first time in eight months, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decline followed an initially reported 0.9% downturn in January, Commerce said. Sales rose 0.6%.

Economists had forecast inventories to fall 0.7%, Bloomberg reported. The drop was the biggest since records began in 2009.

Wholesale inventories account for about a fourth of total business stockpiles, while retailers and factories account for the rest.