Wholesale Inventories Rise in May

Wholesale inventories rose 0.5% in May, while sales fell, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The increase followed a revised 0.2% increase in April, originally reported as a 0.4% gain.

Wholesale sales slipped 0.3%, the first decline in more than a year, after a 0.9% increase in April.

Economists had forecast inventories to rise 0.4%, Bloomberg reported.

Wholesale inventories account for about a fourth of total business stockpiles, while retailers and factories account for the rest.