WASHINGTON – Business inventories increased 0.1% in May as total business sales declined 0.9%, the largest amount in 14 months, the Commerce Department reported today.
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Retail inventories increased 0.3% for the month following a 0.2% increase in April. Retail inventories excluding motor vehicles also increased 0.3%.
Economists expected inventories would increase 0.3%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters. Business inventories rose an unrevised 0.4% in April.
The 0.9% drop in total business sales was the largest decline since March 2009.
The inventories-to-sales ratio increased to 1.24 from 1.23 in April.
