(RTTNews) - Thursday morning, the Commerce Department released its report on wholesale trade in the month of May, showing that wholesale inventories fell by less than economists had been expecting. The report also showed a modest increase in wholesale sales.

The report showed that wholesale inventories fell 0.8 percent in May following a revised 1.3 percent decrease in April. Economists had expected inventories to fall by 1.0 percent compared to the 1.4 drop originally reported for the previous month.

While inventories of durable goods fell by 1.5 percent in May, the decrease was partly offset by a 0.3 percent increase in inventories of non-durable goods.

At the same time, the Commerce Department said that wholesale sales edged up 0.2 percent in May after coming in unchanged in the previous month.

With inventories falling and sales rising, the wholesale inventories/sales ratio edged down to 1.29 in May from 1.31. The ratio came in at 1.12 in the same month a year ago.

Next week, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on total business inventories and sales in the month of May.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Forex, Releases, USA.

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