Wholesale inventories increased 0.5% in May, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Wholesale sales grew 0.7%.
Economists expected inventories would increase 0.7% and sales would gain 0.7%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Inventories for April were up a revised 1.0%, down from the initially reported 1.1% rise. April sales were up an unrevised 1.3%.
Inventories of durable goods increased 1.0% in May following a 0.9% increase in April. Sales of durable goods increased 0.2% in May following a 1.6% gain April.
Inventories of nondurable goods decreased 0.3% in May following a 1.0% rise in April. Sales of nondurable goods climbed 1.1% in May following a 1.1% jump April.
The inventories-to-sales ratio held at 1.18 in May.
