File: Wholesale trade sales and inventories. (Photo: Bureau of Labor Statistics/ BLS)
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday wholesale trade inventories rose by a higher-than-expected 0.4% in May, with April revised 0.1 higher. The results will no doubt help second-quarter GDP, which the GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth has at 2.7%, sales at the wholesale level fell sharply by 0.5% in May.
The inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers excluding manufacturers’ sales branches and offices came in at a seasonally adjusted 1.29, down from the 1.34 in may 2016.
