Business Inventories Rise As Expected

Business inventories rose an as-expected 0.5 percent in April which will be a positive input for second-quarter GDP though the gain hints at the risk of overhang as sales in the month fell 0.2 percent. The inventory-to-sales ratio rose one notch to 1.39 from 1.38 in March. Builds in April were largest at wholesalers (0.8 percent) and retailers (0.5 percent) with the manufacturing build moderate (0.3 percent).