Econoday Economic Report: Motor Vehicle Sales

2012 Economic Calendar

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Motor Vehicle Sales

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Released On 10/27/2012 8:00:00 PM For 11/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

	Prior	Consensus	Consensus Range	Actual
Domestic Vehicle Sales	11.6 M	11.4 M	11.3 M to 11.5 M	11.1 M
Total Vehicle Sales	15.0 M	14.8 M	14.6 M to 15.1 M	14.3 M

Highlights
Hurricane Sandy didn't show up in chain store reports where the month end was October 27, but the effect did show up in unit sales from manufacturers whose monthly period goes all the way out to October 31. The month's annual sales rate came in at 14.29 million which is a sharp 4 percent lower than September's and which points to weakness in the motor vehicle component of the monthly retail sales report. Weakness in the month was evenly split between cars and trucks and domestic-made and foreign-made.

Market Consensus before announcement
Sales of total light motor vehicles hit a new recovery high in September, at 14.9 million for the highest annual rate since March 2008. This was 2.9 percent above August. All categories showed monthly strength.

Definition
Unit sales of motor vehicles include domestic sales and foreign sales, otherwise referred to as imports. Domestics are sales of autos produced in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Imports are U.S. sales of vehicles produced elsewhere. These are for light vehicles which include all passenger cars and light trucks up to 14,000 pounds gross weight (including minivans and sport utility vehicles). Individual manufacturers usually report sales on the first business day of the month. One of the first tabulators of the data is Autodata Corporation. Motor vehicle sales are good indicators of trends in consumer spending and often are considered a leading indicator at business cycle turning points. Why Investors Care

Motor vehicles sales slowed notably in 2008 and 2009 due to recession. Recovery boosted sales in 2010 and early 2011 before economic growth slowed. Truck shares hit their peak in 2005 when gasoline was cheap. Trucks have since oscillated sharply with spikes in gasoline in 2008 and 2010.
Data Source: Haver Analytics

2012 Released Schedule

Released On: 1/4 2/1 3/1 4/3 5/1 6/1 7/3 8/1 9/4 10/2 11/1 12/3

Release For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Nov