US wholesale inventories up 0.5% in August

US wholesale inventories posted an increase in August while sales also edged up, Commerce Department reported on Friday. Inventories at the wholesale level rose 0.5 percent in August from the prior month to 503.0 billion U.S. dollars. It was 2.5 percent higher than the year-ago level. Sales at the wholesale level also increased 0.6 percent to 428.4 billion dollars in August, and was 5.6 percent higher than a year ago. Changes in business inventories is a key component of the changes in gross domestic product. Economists hold that wholesale sales increase is a good sign for economic recovery, as personal consumption accounted for about 70 percent of the total economic activity in the world's largest economy. The report was delayed for about two weeks due to the 16-day partial federal government shutdown starting on Oct. 1.