Econoday Report: Motor Vehicle Sales July 1, 2009

Motor Vehicle Sales

Released on 7/1/2009 For Jun, 2009

	Prior	Actual
Domestic Vehicle Sales	7.3 M	7.1 M

Highlights
Vehicle sales gave a rare lift to the last retail sales report but don't look for that to happen with the June report. Sales came in at a total domestic/import annual adjusted unit rate of 9.7 million, down from 9.9 million in May. Incentives are heavy but consumers are not interested in making major purchases. Chain stores will report their June results a week from Thursday. Weekly chain-store reports are warning that June sales were unusually weak.

Definition
Unit sales of domestically produced cars and light duty trucks (including sport utility vehicles and mini-vans). Individual manufacturers report usually report sales on the first business day of the month. Motor vehicle sales are good indicators of trends in consumer spending. Why Investors Care

Motor vehicles sales slowed notably in 2006 as a result of higher interest rates and a jump in gasoline prices but remained at reasonable levels due to strong income growth. Late in 2006 and in early 2007, gasoline prices were down from 2006 highs but moderating economic growth kept sales from rebounding. Truck shares hit their peak in 2005 when gasoline was cheap and remain sharply lower since gasoline prices spiked in 2006.

Data Source: Haver Analytics

2009 Release Schedule

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

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