Wholesale inventories in the United States grew 0.1% in July compared to June's revised figures, coming in at $711.3 billion, the US Census Bureau revealed in a report on Wednesday. Year over year, the reading jumped 6.2%. Sales of merchant wholesalers, adjusted for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, stood at $908.1 billion, up 0.1% month on month and 1.3% on an annual basis. The ratio between inventories and sales for merchant wholesalers was at 1.28 in July, falling from the same period a year ago, when it ran at 1.34. (full story)