A replay of the Cox Automotive Q1 2022 U.S. Auto Sales Forecast and Industry Insights webcast held on Monday, March 28, is available below. Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke, Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough, and the Industry Insights team presented data and insights to help quantify how the industry performed, reviewed the Cox Automotive first-quarter … Continued
Last week was a light week for new economic data. This week delivers a veritable buffet of updated data covering personal income, spending, and inflation data for February, and employment, consumer confidence, and new-vehicle sales data for March. The housing market saw declining momentum in February, as surging mortgage rates are having an impact on … Continued
COVID-19 cases are now down 96% from the peak in mid-January, but the war in Ukraine and accelerating inflation have weighed on consumer sentiment in March. Still, the consumer kept spending at retailers in February, but inflation is what drove spending higher for the month. The job market continues to be one of the strongest … Continued
The Fed followed through with its widely telegraphed plan to start raising the target rate for the Federal Funds Rate. The target was increased by a quarter of a point, as expected, but the Fed indicated that six more quarter-point rate increases will likely follow before year-end, and that was more than expected. Rate projections … Continued
The video below is part of a biweekly Auto Market Report series focusing on data and insights that provide a holistic view of the auto industry. Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke leads our effort to translate data and trends into actionable insights. Download this week’s presentation.
COVID-19 cases continue to fall and are back to July levels. Even with cases down, consumer sentiment, according to the University of Michigan, declined again in the initial March reading as consumers are impacted by rising gas prices and unsettled by the conflict in Ukraine. Inflation picked up again in February to record the highest … Continued
The February employment report was stronger than expected as job creation accelerated to 678,000 jobs compared to 481,000 created in January, and prior months were revised up. Labor force participation grew to the highest level for the pandemic, and the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level for the pandemic. Jobless claims are falling, and … Continued
The video below is part of a biweekly Auto Market Report series focusing on data and insights that provide a holistic view of the auto industry. Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke leads our effort to translate data and trends into actionable insights. Download this week’s presentation.
Economic growth recovered in the fourth quarter, as real GDP growth accelerated to 7%, which was the strongest reading for the year, following the disruption from the delta wave of COVID-19 in the third quarter last year. This year started slower with the omicron wave, but activity is now recovering again as COVID cases are … Continued
COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant surged to record levels in January but have been declining rapidly for more than four weeks. They are now down 85% from the peak. COVID, inflation, the weather and stock market volatility have weighed on consumer sentiment so far in 2022, but none of that kept consumers from … Continued