Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.8% in September

.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.8% in September, as sales fell by the most since April 2003, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The increase followed a revised 1.2% gain in August, Bloomberg reported.

Economists expected inventories to rise 0.5%, Bloomberg said.

The inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures the amount of time wholesale goods went unsold, increased to 1.18 months in September from 1.16 months in August.

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