Inventories at US wholesalers rose a greater-than-expected 0.7 per cent in June, while sales rose 0.6 per cent, a government report said today.
The US Commerce Department said stocks of durable goods - products meant to last three years or more - rose 0.9 per cent in June. Automotive inventories rose 3.1 per cent in June, their biggest increase since December 2003.
Wholesale auto sales also were strong, gaining 1.2 per cent in June amid heavy retail discounting by automakers. Nondurable inventories rose 0.3 per cent, with sales up 0.8 per cent.
Rising inventories can signal either growing business confidence about future demand or an unexpected sales drop that causes unsold stocks to pile up.
The inventories-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to deplete stocks at the current sales pace, was flat in June at 1.19 months' worth.
May's wholesale inventories measure was revised up a touch to a 0.3 per cent gain, from a first-reported 0.1 per cent advance. May wholesale sales, originally reported as unchanged, were revised to a 0.1 per cent rise.