Auto sales, Auto cutbacks, Central bank gold buying

Peaked a few years ago and trending lower:

BEA: July Vehicles Sales decreased to 16.8 Million SAAR

The BEA released their estimate of July vehicle sales on Tuesday. The BEA estimated sales of 16.82 million SAAR in July 2019 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 1.8% from the June sales rate, and down slightly from July 2018.

Sales in 2019 are averaging 16.9 million (average of seasonally adjusted rate), down 1.5% compared to the same period in 2018.

Automakers trim production as market weakens – but hope to avoid wholesale cuts of a decade ago

Industry officials, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra, say they learned critical lessons during the last recession and hope to be more proactive this time around, adjusting production early to stay in line with market demand while avoiding the sort of budget-busting incentives that devastated industry balance sheets a decade ago.

Seems central banks are continuing to buy gold, in case you wondered why the price of gold has been rising. There are no fiscal limits as gold buying doesn’t count as ‘government spending’, and is accounted for on the CB’s books with the gold purchased being the asset, and the newly created central bank deposit the liability. I call it ‘off balance sheet deficit spending’:

Rising price of gold boosts central bank’s forex reserves coffers

Central Bank Gold Buying: One More Positive Signal for Gold in 2019?

Central Bank Gold Buying Continued Unabated In June