The tightening of U.S. monetary policy is accelerating after the Fed’s eighth and final meeting in 2021. As expected, the Fed announced that tapering would accelerate and bond buying would end by March. This sets the stage for rate increases to begin soon thereafter as the economic priorities shift from a focus on job recovery … Continued
The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases kept rising last week as the seven-day average of daily cases was up and case levels are back to early October numbers. The most current view of consumer sentiment moved slightly higher for the week, and the initial reading for December from the University of Michigan registered an … 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.
New-vehicle sales were essentially unchanged in November with a 12.9 million seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), down slightly from 13.0 million in October. A very tight supply is limiting what can be sold, but supply has stabilized and at least is not getting worse. The November job report was mixed. Job creation decelerated, but the … Continued
While the number of COVID-19 daily new cases is increasing, the economy grew, consumers spent money, home sales rose, and jobless claims dropped to pre-pandemic levels. GDP revised up: The second estimate of third-quarter real GDP resulted in an upward revision to growth of 2.1% annualized from the first estimate of 2.0%. Personal consumption was … 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.
The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases accelerated higher last week, and consumer sentiment lost ground. Retail sales were much stronger than expected in October as consumers keep spending despite higher prices. Inflation did play a role in the spending, but even controlling for price increases, retail sales exceeded expectations. New construction trends were mixed … Continued
Inflation rose in October to the highest year-over-year level since October 1990. While the consumer credit expansion pace accelerated in September, auto loan originations slowed modestly in the third quarter from the record pace of originations in the second quarter. Auto loan performance deteriorated again in October and is starting to normalize from historically low … 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.
October saw an acceleration of job gains as the labor market is improving following the peak of the Delta variant wave and the end of the pandemic unemployment assistance in September. New-vehicle sales showed gains over September, which posted the lowest seasonal pace of sales. The used-vehicle retail market was flat and still slower than … Continued