Wholesale Inventories Increase

Wholesale inventories rose 1.1% in June to a seasonally adjusted $435.85 billion, after increasing an upwardly revised 0.9% during May, the Commerce Dept.'s monthly report said. The Dept. in a report released last month had estimated May inventories rose 0.8%. The increase in June inventories was nearly double 0.6% increase Wall Street analysts expected. Sales of U.S. wholesalers rose 2.8% in June to a seasonally adjusted $411.23B after a revised 2.2% rise in May, the data showed. Originally, May sales were estimated to have gained 1.6%. Inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of the number of months it would take a business to deplete current inventory, fell to 1.06, a new record low breaking the previous record of 1.08 set in May. On a year-over-year basis, sales were 17% higher, while inventories gained 9.5% since June 2007. Wholesalers' inventories of durable goods, a category that includes items with a lifespan of more than 3 years such as cars, appliances and furniture, increased 0.6% in June, after rising 0.8% in May. Sales of durable good rose 1.3% in June on the heels of a 0.2% increase in May. Auto stocks rose 0.5%, while auto sales fell 4.7%. That compares to a 0.3% fall in auto stocks in May amid a 1.0% drop in sales. Lumber sales increased 1.9% in June, while furniture sales fell 0.8%. Non-durable goods inventories increased 1.8% in June, after a revised 1.0% gain the month before. June non-durable goods sales rose by 4.1%, after rising a revised 4.0% in May. Petroleum stocks gained 8.3% amid a 12.7% jump in sales. Farm product inventories rose 7.1%, while sales climbed 3.4%.