WASHINGTON - Business inventories rose 0.4% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Sales were up 0.7%. The inventories to sales ratio for the month was 1.27.
The median estimate economists polled by Thomson Reuters was for a 0.5% increase in inventories.
Retail stocks are the last part of the inventory picture for the month, with factory and wholesale inventories reported earlier. Retailers reported no increase in inventories for August with a 0.3% rise in sales.
Excluding autos, retail inventories fell 0.2% as sales rose 0.4%. Auto inventories themselves showed a 0.4% increase in inventories and a 0.2% increase in sales.
In the other retail categories broken out by the Commerce Department, building materials and garden supplies stores had their inventories fall 0.3% and their sales fall 0.5%. General merchandise stores saw inventories fall 0.4% and sales increase 0.4%. Department stores had a 0.3% inventory decline and a 0.8% sales decline. Clothing stores had inventories up 0.2% and sales down 0.3%.
Wholesale inventories were up 0.8% and manufacturing up 0.5% as previously reported.
Year over year, total business inventories were up 10.6% and sales up 12.0%.
