WASHINGTON--U.S. business inventories increased 0.3% in May to a seasonally adjusted $2.036 trillion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected inventories to rise 0.3% in May from the prior month.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

--Breaking down by sector, factory inventories rose 0.2% in May from April. Retail inventories increased 0.4%, and wholesale inventories were up 0.4% on the month.

--The overall pace of sales was slower, rising 0.2% in May from the prior month.

--The inventories-to-sales ratio in May was 1.39, the same as in April. It had been 1.34 in May 2018.

The Commerce Department data on business inventories can be found at http://www.census.gov/mtis/www/data/pdf/mtis_current.pdf.

Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2019 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)

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