ECONOMY

Business Inventories Rise 0.4% in July: Stockpiles of unsold goods at U.S. businesses soared to the highest level in more than a decade, suggesting businesses were betting a surge in demand in the previous months would continue. Their gamble--boosting inventories by 0.4% to above $1 trillion for the first time since 1982--could still pay off this fall, analysts say, even though the government reported Friday that retail sales in August barely budged from a month before. June inventories remained unchanged, according to the government’s revision.