WASHINGTON — Business inventories rose 0.1% to $1.66 trillion in May, while sales increased 1.1% to $1.28 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
The inventory advance followed a 0.2% Increase in April, originally reported as a 0.3% gain. The May inventory increase was lower than the median 0.3% gain projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.
On a year-over-year basis, May inventories climbed 3.8% over the same month in 2012.
The May sales gain followed an unchanged level in April that was originally reported as a 0.1% decrease.
May sales were 3.1% above the same month in 2012.
The total business inventories/sales ratio, based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of May, was 1.29, lower than the previous month's ratio of 1.30, but higher than the 1.28 ratio for the same month last year. The last time the ratio was the same was February and the last time it was lower was May 2012 when it was 1.28.
