U.S. wholesale inventories increased 2.8% in June from a year earlier and edged up 0.7% from May, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, climbed to a seasonally adjusted $599.4 billion in June from the revised $595.1 billion recorded in May, when inventories ticked up 0.6%.

Sales of merchant wholesalers rose 0.7% to $465.8 billion in June from the revised sales of $462.5 billion in May, and jumped 5.5% compared to the same period of last year.

The inventories-to-sales ratio for June was 1.29, unchanged from last month and down from 1.32 for June 2016.