Economic Buzz: US business inventories remain unchanged in May

Business inventories in the U.S. remained unchanged for the second consecutive month in May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The Commerce Department said business inventories were virtually unchanged in May after also coming in flat in April.

The report showed a 0.3 percent increase by retail inventories and a 0.1 percent uptick by manufacturing inventories were offset by a 0.3 percent decrease by wholesale inventories.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business sales fell by 0.4 percent in May after slipping by 0.2 percent in April.

While manufacturing sales inched inch up by 0.1 percent, wholesale sales dipped by 0.3 percent and retail sales slumped by 1.0 percent.

With sales falling and inventories unchanged, the total business inventories/sales ratio crept up to 1.39 in May from 1.38 in June.

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