Wholesale inventories in the U.S. were roughly flat in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories were virtually unchanged in May after falling by a revised 0.3 percent in April.
Economists had expected wholesale inventories to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the dip originally reported for the previous month.
The unchanged reading came as a 0.6 percent increase in inventories of durable goods offset a 1.0 percent slump in inventories of non-durable goods.
Meanwhile, the report said wholesale sales slipped by 0.2 percent in May after coming in virtually unchanged in April.
Sales of non-durable goods tumbled by 1.0 percent during the month, while sales of durable goods climbed by 0.8 percent.
With inventories unchanged and sales falling, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers inched up to 1.41 in May from 1.40 in April.
