--US May wholesale inventories +0.2%; sales -0.1%
--US May wholesale inventories gain highest since November
--US May wholesale inventory/sales ratio 1.32; highest since Apr 1999
--US April wholesale inventories revised to +0.1 from +0.3%

Washington, July 10 (BridgeNews) - Growing stockpiles of non-durable goods boosted inventories at U.S. wholesale merchants by 0.2% in May, the biggest increase since November. Wholesale sales during the month fell 0.1%, boosting the stock-to-sales ratio to 1.32, the highest level since April 1999.
The increase in wholesalers' inventories follows a revised 0.1% rise in April, originally reported rising 0.3%.
On an unadjusted basis, May inventories totaled $299.842 billion and were 2.3% higher than a year ago, the Commerce Department reported. The rise in May inventories was led by a 2.0% rise in non-durable goods.
The biggest increases were recorded in drug, apparel and farm product inventories.
However, durable goods inventories fell 0.9%, with automotive inventories down 1.9% and electrical equipment falling 3.2%. In the durable goods sector, only hardware and machinery inventories increased in May.
Wholesale trade is the second of three reports on the U.S. May inventories situation. Factory inventories shrank 0.3% in May. Together, factory inventories and wholesale inventories account for about 70% of U.S. business inventories data.
The May business inventories report, set for release July 16, will complete the picture by including data on retail inventories. Economists expect a 0.1% decline in total business inventories, according to the median estimate of a BridgeNews survey.

WHOLESALER SALES, RATIOS
The 0.1% decrease in May wholesaler sales follows a revised 0.1% gain in April. May wholesale sales were up an unadjusted 0.3% compared to a year ago.
For durable goods, the inventory-to-sales ratio fell to 1.62 in May following a revised 1.63 in April. For non-durable goods, the ratio of 1.01 was up from 0.98 in April.