WASHINGTON — Wholesale sales showed no change in July as inventories rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That followed unrevised 0.6% increases for both inventories and sales in June.
Sales of durable goods were up 1.4% but sales of non-durables fell 1.1%. That was the biggest decline in non-durables sales since March 2009.
Inventories of durable goods rose 1.0% and non-durables inventories rose 0.5%.
The July inventories to sales ratio was 1.17, up from an unrevised 1.16 in June.
The median estimate from the Thomson Reuters poll of economists was a 0.8% rise each in inventories and in sales.
In non-durables, sales of raw farm products fell 6.7% and farm inventories fell 3.6%. Sales of petroleum were down 1.5% although inventories rose 2.1%.
The Commerce Department's inventories and sales numbers are not adjusted for prices. Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said recent gains "have been largely driven by increases in commodity prices," but prices were lower in July.
Inventories of apparel were up 2.9%. Inventories of chemicals rose 2.3%.
In durables, auto sales rose 5.3% while inventories were up 0.6%. Computer equipment sales rose 2.5% with inventories up 3.7%. Metal and mineral sales rose 3.6% with a 1.1% inventory increase.
