US wholesalers increased their stockpiles in August and their sales rose for the first time in four months.
The gains could provide a boost to the still-weak economy.
The Commerce Department has said that wholesale stockpiles grew 0.5% in August after a 0.6% increase in July.
Sales jumped 0.9% in August, ending three months of declines. The sales increase was the biggest one-month gain since February.
Total wholesale inventories stood at $487.5 billion. That is 26.9% higher than the post-recession low hit in September 2009.
Companies typically boost their stockpiles when they anticipate sales will rise in coming months. Faster restocking helps drive economic growth. When businesses order more goods, it generally leads to more factory production.
Growth has slowed this year, in part because high unemployment and low pay increases have kept US consumers from spending more freely. Weaker global growth has also dampened demand for US exports.
Many economists believe the US economic growth has hovered near a 2% annual rate during the July-September quarter. That would be only a slight improvement from the tepid 1.3% annual growth rate in the previous quarter.
A stronger job market could help boost growth in the final three months of the year. When more people find jobs, consumer spending grows. Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of economic activity.
The government reported on Friday that the unemployment rate fell in September to 7.8%, down from 8.1% in August.
The rate fell because a government survey of households found that 873,000 more people had jobs, the biggest jump since January 2003. Still, economists expect only modest job gains in the coming months.
