US business inventories rose in July

U.S. manufacturing and trade inventories rose by 0.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted $1.59 trillion, the U.S. Census Bureau said Friday. The report that adds to Wednesday's wholesale trade report showed manufacturing and trade sales for the month up 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to $1.24 trillion. From July 2011, inventories rose by 5.4 percent while sales rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier. The inventory-to-sales ratio -- reflecting how many months it would take a company to deplete its inventory at the current sales pace -- came in at 1.28. A year earlier, the ratio was 1.25.