Wholesale Inventories Down in July; Sales Up

Stocks of unsold goods on U.S. wholesalers’ shelves declined for the second consecutive month in July, while sales picked up, the Commerce Department said. Wholesale inventories fell 0.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted $276.9 billion after a 0.1% drop in June, the department said. Economists had expected July inventories to rise 0.2%. Wholesale sales rose 0.3% in July to $214.54 billion, after rising 0.2% in June. The inventories-to-sales ratio for wholesale goods, a measure of the amount of time needed to sell stored goods at the current sales rate, slipped to 1.29 months’ worth in July from 1.30 in June. The decreases in wholesale stocks were fairly widespread and included drops in inventories of cars and car parts of 2.3% in July and 2.5% in June.