The latest worry has been a buildup in stockpiles of computer chips, telecommunications equipment and other computer-related goods.
The increase in stockpiles of goods on shelves and backlots nationwide was faster than the 0.6percentthatat many analysts expected.
Wholesale inventories rose 0.2percentt, led by an increase in stockpiles of drugs, food and clothing, after increasing 0.1percentt in April, the Commerce Department reported today.
Inventories at wholesalers increased in July twice as fast as forecast, led by gains in stockpiles of automobiles, machinery and petroleum as sales fell.
The increase has been achieved partly at the expense of other food crops.This year the overall decline in stockpiles of all cereals will be about 53m tonnes a very rough indication of by how much demand is outstripping supply.
But the investment bank's seers are no longer sure that it will hit their mark soon: the "downside risks" to the price, they had warned investors the day before, were "gaining momentum .The price increases of recent months have stemmed from a marked drop in stockpiles of oil, particularly in America.
The policy has knocked Thailand off its perch as the top rice exporter in the world and resulted in stockpiles of about 17 million tons of milled rice, or nearly twice what the country exports normally, leaving the authorities struggling to find warehouse space and raising the threat that rice might be dumped on the world market at a loss.
The Lisbon summit made clear that allied missile defense is not directed against Russia, and that cooperation on missile defense can go together with an agreed reduction in stockpiles of American and Russian strategic weapons, without any implicit or explicit constraints on the NATO system.
The rally in oil prices on Wednesday was caused in part by tensions on the border between Venezuela, a major oil exporter, and Colombia, as well as by government data in the United States showing a drop in stockpiles of oil and some of the fuels made from it.
And he has tried to distance himself from George Bush's foreign policy by stressing the importance of global co-operation, calling for a reduction in stockpiles of nuclear weapons and pledging that he will do more to deal with global warming and malaria.
