US wholesale inventories drop more than expected in April

US wholesale inventories shrank more than expected in April, revised figures showed.

Total wholesale inventories dropped by 0.5% month-on-month to reach $591.0bn, according to the Department of Commerce, which was worse than a preliminary estimate of -0.3%.

Economists had forecast a dip of 0.1%.

However, March's 0.3% drop was revised up to show an increase of 0.1%.

In comparison to a year-ago, wholesale inventories grew by 1.6% in April.

Meanwhile, sales declined by 0.4% on the month to reach $462.3bn and were up by 7.3% on the year.

The key inventory-to-sales ratio was at 1.28 in April, down from 1.35 during the same month one year ago.