Highlights
Vehicle sales popped back up in March when compared with February in what is a plus for the month's retail sales data. Many press reports this afternoon are mistakenly focused on year-on-year rates which continue to show nearly 50 percent declines, even though here too there's improvement from the February rates. But the real improvement is month-to-month where, based on early totals, the seasonally adjusted annual unit sales rate for domestically made vehicles rose to 6.9 million, up sizably from 6.3 million in February and is also higher than January's 6.7. At GM, sales declines were less severe but still show a 45 percent year-on-year drop. Today's results offer the first hard numbers for March retail sales and tentatively point to a third straight month of improvement in what would definitely help the economic outlook. Chain stores won't post their monthly results until a week from Thursday in what will firm up expectations for the mid-month retail sales report from the Commerce Department.

Market Consensus Before Announcement
Sales of domestic motor vehicles fell to a 6.4 million annual rate in February, down from an already deeply contractionary 6.8 million in January. Continued worries about rising unemployment and whether U.S. auto manufacturers will have to file for bankruptcy will likely keep the sales pace weak in March.

2009 Release Schedule

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