U.S. wholesale inventories climbed 1.0% to a seasonally adjusted $642.71 billion in August from the revised $636.34 billion in July, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Econoday forecast a 0.8% monthly increase in wholesale inventories.

Inventories of automotive and farm products rose 3.5% and 4.9%, respectively, leading the month-over-month gains.

Sales of merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers' sales branches and offices, came in at $511.14 billion, up 0.8% from the revised $506.87 billion in July.

The inventories-to-sales ratio in August was 1.26, unchanged from the previous month.

Year over year, wholesale inventories were up 5.3% in August, and sales jumped 9.2%.