U.S. wholesale inventories increased 4.5% in August from a year ago and ticked up 0.9% from July, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, rose to $608.08 billion in August from the revised $602.38 billion in the previous month and $581.91 billion in August 2016.

Sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, stood at $473.38 billion in August, up 1.7% from the revised July level of $465.49 billion and up 7.2% from the revised August 2016 level of $441.52 billion.

The inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.28 in August on seasonally adjusted data, compared with a 1.32 ratio in the same month last year.