Succinct Summations for the week ending August 7th
Positives:
1. Car sales are on fire, GM sales rose 6.4% and Ford sales rose 4.9%, vs expectations of a 0.6% and 1.8% increase, respectively.
2. Unemployment came in at 5.3%, unchanged from last month and in line with expectations.
3. Weekly jobless claims came in at 270k, in line with expectations.
4. Personal income came rose 0.4%, better than the 0.3% expected.
5. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, in line with expectations.
Negatives:
1. U.S Nonfarm payrolls came in at 215k, below the 220k and the 231k previously.
2. Consumer spending rose 0.2%, below the 0.3% expected rise.
3. ISM fell to 52.7, down from 53.5 in June.
4. Greece PMI fell to 30.2 as employment fell at the fastest rate in the history of the reading (16 years)
5. Construction spending rose 0.1%, well below the 0.8% expected rise.
6. Factory orders rose 1.8%, below the 2% expected rise.
7. U.S stocks have come under pressure recently, with the Dow falling 7 straight days.
I believe the increase in vehicles at GM and Ford is overwhelmingly due due to truck, crossover and SUV sales. Clown car sales lag. Meanwhile, the market value for used hybrids and electric cars languishes with depreciation falling like a boulder.Importantly for GM, they are reducing fleet sales (20%) while increasing the individual buyer end of the business.
I missed the VOLT number. Did GM sell any?
How does this
“Greece PMI fell…”
really affect the USA economy?