Wholesale Business Inventories Rise As Expected

Inventories at the wholesale level rose 0.4 percent in the second estimate for May which is unchanged from the first estimate. Inventories in April rose 0.8 percent. Yet sales at the wholesale level managed only a 0.1 percent gain to raise the stock-to-sales ratio to a less lean 1.35 from 1.34 in April. Year-on-year, inventory growth is at 7.7 percent and well beyond only a 0.4 percent rise for underlying sales in a mismatch, like the rise in the stock-to-sales ratio, that points to the risk of unwanted inventory growth.