The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly wholesale trade report on July 8, reflecting results through May, which showed another considerable sales gain and acceleration that far outpaced another modest increase in inventories — indicating sales are outpacing stockpiles by a wide margin as of the start of Summer.

The report showed that May sales of merchant wholesalers — except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustments or seasonal variations and trading day differences, but not for price changes — were $817.4 billion, up 3.4% from the revised April level and up a whopping 18.1% year-over-year. April’s total was revised up from a 2.0% gain to 2.2%.

Within May’s wholesale sales data, durable goods sales jumped 4.2% month-over-month after a 1.5% April gain (revised up from 0.9%) and spiked 18.7% year-over-year. Meanwhile, May nondurable sales rose 2.6% month-over-month — decelerating from April’s 2.9% gain — and were up 17.4% year-over-year. The nondurable gain was again powered by petroleum products that have soared since the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz conflict began at the end of February, but its May sales gain repeated April’s 8.6% — considerably cooled since March’s 25.2% spike.

Here’s a year-over-year look at how May wholesale sales fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category, seasonally-adjusted:

Year-to-Date Sales

With five months of data in the books, here’s how U.S. wholesale sales have fared year-to-date in 2026 vs. 2025:

Inventories

Total wholesale inventories advanced a modest 0.1% during May after an upwardly revised 0.7% rise (from 0.6%) in April and were up 4.0% year-over-year. The monthly figure trailed the Bureau’s 0.3% advance estimate and marked the straight month of slower inventory growth after a 1.5% spike in March — the largest since mid-2022. Year-over-year, industry inventories were up 4.0%. Inventories were up 0.1% month-over-month for both durable and nondurable goods, with durable up 3.3% year-over-year and nondurable up 5.4%.

Here’s a look at how May wholesale inventories fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category:

Inventories/Sales Ratio

The seasonally-adjusted May inventories/sales ratio for wholesalers was 1.15 — a considerable one-month decline from April’s 1.19 and a continued downtrend since a 1.31 reading in May 2025, meaning that sales continue to outpace inventories, with an acceleration in that trend during May.

Here’s a look at how May’s inventories/sales ratio fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category: