Business Sales Up 0.8% Inventories Climb 0.3%

Business inventories were up 0.3% and sales levels rose 0.8% in May, according to Commerce Department data released yesterday.

Business inventories rose to $1.479 billion following an unrevised 0.5% gain in April to $1.474 billion. IFR Markets had projected that business inventories would be up 0.5% in the month. Overall inventories were 5.2% above the May 2008 level.

Stocks of autos — by far the largest component of inventories — slid 0.6% in May, following April’s 0.5% decrease. The category is up 1.5% from the previous May.

Meanwhile, the 0.8% increase in overall business sales brought the category to $1.189 billion. The May figure followed an upwardly revised 1.5% increase in April, originally reported as a 1.4% increase, and compared to IFR’s projected 1.1% increase.

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