WASHINGTON — Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in June as wholesale sales declined for the second month in a row, the Commerce Department reported today.
Wholesale sales dropped 0.7% following a 0.5% decrease in May. Sales had increased for 15 consecutive months going back to March 2009 before May’s decrease.
June inventories increased by the smallest amount since January. Inventories in May increased 0.5%, unrevised from last month’s report.
Economists expected wholesale inventories to increase 0.4% and for sales to increase 0.5%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The wholesale inventories-to-sales ratio increased to 1.15 from 1.14 in May. The ratio reached a low for the year of 1.13 in March.
Inventories of durable goods increased 0.3% and auto inventories increased 1.0%, the largest gain since March.
