Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Wholesale sales grew 0.2%.
Economists expected inventories would increase 0.2% and sales would gain 0.1%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Inventories for September were up a revised 0.4%, from the initially reported 0.3% rise. September sales were flat, first reported as a 0.2% increase.
Inventories of durable goods were unchanged in October following a 0.7% increase in September. Sales of durable goods increased 0.8% in October following a 0.5% rise in September.
Inventories of nondurable goods were up 1.2% in October following a flat read in September. Sales of nondurable goods dipped 0.3% in October following a 0.4% drop September.
The inventories-to-sales ratio held at 1.19 in October from 1.19 in September. A year ago the inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.16%.
