The U.S. witnessed a slight uptick in business inventories for July, as reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.
According to the report, business inventories grew by 0.4 percent in July, following a 0.3 percent increase in June. This exceeded economists' expectations, which had projected a consistent 0.3 percent rise.
The unexpected boost in business inventories was driven primarily by a 0.8 percent rise in retail inventories, following a 0.9 percent increase in June. Wholesale inventories also saw a 0.2 percent increase after remaining unchanged in the previous month, while manufacturing inventories experienced a modest 0.1 percent rise, recovering from a 0.1 percent decline in June.
Additionally, the Commerce Department reported a significant 1.1 percent surge in business sales for July, compared to a stagnant performance in June.
Breaking down the figures, retail and wholesale sales both jumped by 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, while manufacturing sales saw a 0.9 percent increase.
Due to the substantial rise in sales outpacing that of inventories, the total business inventories-to-sales ratio slightly decreased to 1.37 in July, down from 1.38 in June.
