The Commerce Department announced on Thursday the U.S. wholesale inventories were flat m-o-m in June, after advancing an unrevised 0.4 percent m-o-m in May.

Economists had forecast wholesale inventories growing 0.2 percent m-o-m in June.

On a y-o-y basis, wholesale inventories surged 7.6 percent.

According to the report, wholesale auto stocks fell 0.2 percent m-o-m in June, following a 1.6 percent m-o-m climb in the previous month, while hardware stocks dropped 0.6 percent m-o-m, the most since October 2016. On the contrary, gains were also recorded in professional equipment and machinery inventories.

Meanwhile, wholesale sales slipped 0.3 percent m-o-m in June, following a 0.1 percent m-o-m uptick in May.