U.S. Wholesale Inventories Increase In Line With Estimates In May

A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of May.

The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories climbed by 0.6 percent in May after rising by an upwardly revised 0.2 percent in April.

Economists had expected wholesale inventories to advance by 0.6 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The report said inventories of durable goods increased by 0.6 percent, while inventories of non-durable goods grew by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales rose by 0.4 percent in May after inching up by 0.2 percent in April. Sales of durable goods and non-durable goods both increased by 0.4 percent.

With inventories and sales both climbing, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers came in unchanged from the previous month at 1.35.