U.S. Wholesale Inventories Jump More Than Expected In August

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed U.S. wholesale inventories surged by more than expected in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said wholesales inventories shot up by 1.3 percent in August after rising by 0.6 percent in July. Economists had expected inventories to jump by 1.1 percent.

The bigger than expected increase in wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable and non-durable goods leapt by 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the report showed wholesale sales inched up by 0.1 percent in August after tumbling by 1.5 percent in July.

Sales of non-durable goods crept up by 0.2 percent, while sales of durable goods were unchanged compared to the previous month.

With inventories jumping by much more than sales, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers climbed to 1.31 in August from 1.29 in July.