U.S. Wholesale Inventories Unexpectedly Rise 0.3% In June

(RTTNews) - Reflecting a jump in inventories of non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday unexpectedly showing an increase in U.S. inventories of wholesale goods in the month of June.

The report said wholesale inventories rose by 0.3 percent in June following an upwardly revised 0.2 percent increase in May.

Economists had expected inventories to come in unchanged compared to the 0.1 percent uptick that had been reported for the previous month.

The unexpected increase in wholesale inventories came as inventories of non-durable goods surged up by 1.1 percent in June after inching up by 0.1 percent in May.

Inventories of drugs and druggists' sundries and farm product raw materials showed significant increases during the month.

On the other hand, the report said inventories of durable goods fell by 0.3 percent in June after rising by 0.2 percent in May.

A drop in inventories of electrical and electronic goods offset an increase in inventories of lumber and other construction materials.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales shot up by 1.9 percent in June following a 0.7 percent increase in May.

Sales of durable goods jumped by 1.2 percent during the month, while sales of non-durable goods soared by 2.5 percent.

With sales rising faster than inventories, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers fell to 1.33 in June from 1.35 in May.