J DATA SNAP:US Jun Wholesale Inventories Rise, Sales Gain
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Wholesalers' Report: Jun May !Consensus: !
Inventories: 0.8% 0.9%r ! +0.6% !
Sales: 1.4% 1.9%r !Actual:+0.8% !
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By Elizabeth Price
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. wholesale inventories rose in June, despite stronger sales, as firms stockpiled furniture, lumber and a wide range of nondurable goods.
Wholesale inventories rose 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted $378.89 billion in June, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. May inventories were revised to show a 0.9% increase, just slightly more than the originally reported gain of 0.8%.
The advance in June wholesale inventories was even stronger than the 0.6% rise Wall Street economists had predicted.
Wednesday's report showed wholesale sales were also up 1.4% in June at a seasonally adjusted $331.05 billion. That followed a revised 1.9% gain in May. Commerce had previously reported May wholesale sales were up 1.5%.
The inventory-to-sales ratio dipped to 1.14 months in June from 1.15 in May. The ratio measures how many months it would take for U.S. wholesalers to exhaust current inventories.
Year over year, wholesale inventories were up 8.1% in June, while sales were up 13.5% from a year ago.
Inventories of durable goods - meant to last three or more years - rose 0.5% in June, while sales were up 0.2%. The rise in durable goods inventories was led by a 2.8% gain in metals stocks, a 2.3% gain in lumber, and a 0.8% increase in furniture. Stocks of machinery rose 1.4%, while computer equipment fell 2.5%. Automotive inventories fell 0.6%.
Inventories of nondurable goods rose 1.1%, while nondurables sales were up 2.6%. Drugs inventories rose 3.0%. Stocks of groceries and farm products were up 2.6% and 2.1%, while chemicals inventories rose 1.6%. Petroleum inventories edged 0.1% lower.
-By Elizabeth Price; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; elizabeth.price@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-09-06 1000ET
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