Businesses slashed wholesale inventories sharply in December, a much weaker showing than had been expected.

The Commerce Department says that wholesale inventories were reduced 0.8 percent in December. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected inventories to rise by 1 percent during the month.

The government said that sales at the wholesale level did rise in December, increasing 0.8 percent.

The weakness in inventory rebuilding in December was an indication that businesses, still struggling to emerge from the deepest recession in decades, are not yet confident enough in rising sales to begin rebuilding their stockpiles on a sustained basis.