The Commerce Department announced on Friday that business inventories rose 0.4 percent m-o-m in July, following an unrevised flat m-o-m performance in June.

That was above economists’ forecast of a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance.

According to the report, retail inventories surged 0.8 percent m-o-m in July (the largest monthly gain since January), while stocks at manufacturers rose 0.5 percent m-o-m and inventories at wholesalers increased 0.2 percent m-o-m.

Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, grew 0.3 percent m-o-m, as reported last month.

In y-o-y terms, business inventories climbed 4.8 percent in July.