Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.7% in June

nventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 0.7% in June, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the 17th straight rise in stockpiles.

The June increase followed a revised 0.3% rise in May, originally reported as 0.1%. Analysts had forecast a 0.4% gain, Bloomberg reported.

The increase brought the total value of inventories to $353.1 billion. Wholesale sales rose 0.6% to $297.3 billion, Commerce said.

Wholesale inventories account for about one-fourth of total business stockpiles.