Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in July, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Wholesale sales grew 0.7%.
Economists expected inventories would increase 0.5% and sales would gain 0.3%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Inventories for June were up a revised 0.2%, down from the initially reported 0.3% rise. June sales were up 0.4%, first reported as a 0.2% increase.
Inventories of durable goods increased 0.3% in July following a 0.6% increase in June. Sales of durable goods increased 0.4% in July following a 1.5% gain June.
Inventories of nondurable goods were flat in July following a 0.4% decline in June. Sales of nondurable goods climbed 1.0% in July following a 0.5% drop June.
The inventories-to-sales ratio dipped to 1.16 in July from 1.17 in June.
