A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed a slight decrease in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of April.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in April after dipping by a revised 0.2 percent in March.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to slip by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.
The modest decrease in wholesale inventories came as inventories of non-durable goods tumbled by 1.2 percent, more than offsetting a 0.6 percent increase in inventories of durable goods.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales rose by 0.2 percent in April after plunging by 2.7 percent in March.
Sales of non-durable goods climbed by 0.8 percent during the month, more than offsetting a 0.5 percent drop in sales of durable goods.
With inventories falling and sales rising, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers edged down to 1.40 in April from 1.41 in March.
