Wholesale inventories up, sales and consumer data disappoint

Wholesale numbers and credit card data don’t look so good “unexpectedly”.

Expectations were for a .3% growth in inventories and a .6% increase in sales for the just released May numbers. Instead, inventories grew .8% and sales only saw a .3% rise.

Along with weak sales data at the wholesale level, Bank of America card data shows that American consumers shut down in June. After having grown .8% in May, consumer spending, ex-autos, dropped .1% in June.

Growth in inventories can mean a surge in expected sales as manufacturers increase production to avoid shortages. Considering BofA card data, it would instead appear that consumers are cutting back, leading to more product sitting in warehouses.