WASHINGTON – The value of wholesale inventories rose 0.7% in June, a small upward adjustment from the 0.6% gain estimated in the advance estimate, while wholesale sales rose 0.7%, their largest increase since February, data released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed.
Looking ahead to Tuesday's report, the tracking looks positive for business inventories and for sales. While factory inventories were up 0.2% in June according to data released on August 3, an MNI calculation shows that the addition of the gain for wholesale inventories reported Wednesday and the 0.6% rise in retail inventories in the advance estimate will result in a 0.5% rise in business inventories if there is no revision to the retail data.
The 0.7% increase for wholesale sales reported Wednesday comes on top of a 0.2% decrease for factory shipments reported last week and a 0.1% decline for retail trade sales from last month's sales release, adding up to a 0.2% decrease for business sales barring a large revision to retail trade sales.
With the rise in June wholesale inventories and the increase in wholesale sales, the inventory/sales ratio was unchanged at 1.29. The ratio was below the 1.32 mark in June 2016, as sales have increased faster than inventories over the last year.
Excluding the auto category, wholesale inventories would have been up 0.6% in June after a 0.6% increase in the previous month, an MNI calculation showed. Sales would have still been up 0.8% in June if auto sales were excluded. This followed a 0.1% decline in May.
The value of durable inventories rose 0.5% in the month, as auto inventories rose 1.4%. The remaining durables components were generally higher, but there were declines for the lumber and electrical categories.
Nondurables inventories were up 1.0% in June. Petroleum inventories fell 5.2%, while the other components were generally up, besides alcohol. There were increases for miscellaneous nondurables (3.3%), farm products (2.5%), and drugs (2.4%).
Durables goods sales were flat in the month, with auto sales down 0.5%. The remaining components were mixed, with sales lumber, metals, electrical, and miscellaneous up, balanced by declines in autos, furniture, equipment, hardware, and machinery.
Nondurable goods sales were up 1.4% in June after a 0.3% decline in May. Petroleum sales were up 1.9% after a sharp 6.9% decrease in May. The other component movements were mixed, with a majority of them higher, except for apparel and chemicals.
