Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.3%; Sales Up 0.6% in June

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 0.3% to $281.86 billion in June, the first increase since May 2001, while sales at wholesalers rose twice as fast, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

This report suggests that, as of two months ago, businesses were eager to rebuild depleted stocks of goods to keep pace with demand, Reuters said. The demand for trucking services increases as companies order more goods.

However, there have been signs recently that spending has slowed and companies may currently be hesitant to aggressively increase inventories, Bloomberg said.

Economists had expected inventories to rise by 0.2%, Reuters noted. Inventories were unchanged in May, after Commerce initially reported they had risen 0.1%.

The increase in sales, which were flat in May, was attributed to more purchases of vehicles, computers and groceries, Commerce said.

The inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long goods remain unsold, stayed at a record-low of 1.23 months in June.

9195