Car sales strong! Beige book soft

U.S. Light Vehicle Sales increase to 17.45 million annual rate in August, Highest since Jan 2006

By Bill McBride

Based on an WardsAuto estimate, light vehicle sales were at a 17.45 million SAAR in August. That is up 10% from August 2013, and up 6.4% from the 16.4 million annual sales rate last month.

This was well above the consensus forecast of 16.5 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate).


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Fed’s Beige book soft:

Fed’s Beige Book: Economic Activity Expanded, No “distinct shift in the overall pace of growth”

Posted in Fed

Today’s factory order charts

This doesn’t look like much of a recovery?

The export game is getting tougher as well:

Tech not so hot either:

Here’s the report:


Highlights
Skewed by Boeing orders at the Farnborough Airshow, factory orders surged 10.5 percent in July. Excluding transportation equipment, which includes both aircraft and vehicles, factory orders actually slipped, down 0.8 percent in the month.

But there are important positives in the report including a sharp 1.2 percent rise for shipments and a 1.4 percent rise for shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft. Unfilled orders show an unusually outsized gain of 5.4 percent while inventories, up only 0.1 percent, will need to be refilled. Another positive is an upward revision to June orders, now at a very strong 1.5 percent vs a prior reading of plus 1.1 percent.

Aircraft orders are the standout star of the July report and mustn’t be dismissed. These orders are long term but will eventually boost factory shipments and employment. Though orders outside aircraft were soft in July, the trend is still positive. Today’s report, together with yesterday’s exceptionally strong ISM report for August, point to third-quarter strength for the manufacturing sector.