Tag Archives: US car sales

China’s ascent in the US car market could be stopped short by new tariffsUS President Donald Trump has shown a particularly strong interest in the US car industry – which carries both significant symbolic and political weight – and therefore in trade flows of foreign cars into the US. The recently negotiated trade agreement with Mexico is mostly about car manufacturing, particularly aimed at halting the ongoing displacement of US car production to Mexico. And Trump’s grievances against...

Is discount pressure on new car sales a signal of weaker demand?Amid all the good macro signals from the US economy lately (see our Flash Note about May payrolls, for instance), new car sales present a mixed picture. Car sales have virtually plateaued in the US, averaging 17.06 million so far this year (January-May), up only +0.3% from the same period last year.One way to assess prospects for new car sales ahead is to look at the price index. From it, one can gauge the extent of discounting...

After a weak first quarter, consumer spending in the US is showing healthier signs. We remain upbeat about prospects for the rest of this year too.Core retail sales in the US rose by 0.2% m-o-m in April, below consensus expectations (+0.4%). However, retail sales for March were revised up by 0.2%.The result was that between Q1 and April, nominal core retail sales grew by a healthy 3.6% annualised, following an increase of 3.5% q-o-q in Q1 and 3.1% in Q4 2016. However, although up month on...