Washington, DC, July 8—Wholesale inventories inched up 0.1 in May, while wholesale sales during the month were flat, according to the Commerce Department.
Economists had forecast an increase of 0.5 percent in inventories, and expected no change in sales during the month.
Inventories of durable goods rose 0.4 percent in May, nondurable inventories fell 0.3 percent.
The inventories-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to deplete stocks at the current sales pace, was flat in May at 1.18 months' worth.
April's wholesale inventories measure was revised down a touch to a 0.7 percent gain, from a first-reported 0.8 percent advance. Wholesale sales rose 1.3 percent in April, slightly less than the originally estimated 1.5 percent gain.
