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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
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U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller August 2, 2022
• Light truck sales improve but car sales are stable.
• Sales remain constrained as parts shortages limit dealer inventory.
• Imports' share slips.
The Autodata Corporation reported that light vehicle sales during July rose 2.2% (-8.8% y/y) to 13.51 million units (SAAR). Sales were roughly one-quarter below the April 2021 peak. Vehicle sales comprise roughly four percent of real consumer expenditures.
Sales of light trucks led last month's overall improvement by rising 2.9% (-5.1% y/y) to 10.69 million units following a 3.3% June gain. Despite the gains, truck sales remained 11.6% below their January peak. Purchases of domestically-produced light trucks improved 4.0% last month (-2.3% y/y) to 8.32 million units after rising 1.1% in June. Sales of imported light trucks eased 0.8% to 2.37 million units and were off 13.2% y/y.
Trucks' share of the light vehicle market rose to 79.1% in July but remained down from the 80.4% share nine months earlier.
Auto sales eased 0.4%, off 20.6% y/y, to 2.82 million units after rising 0.7% in June. Purchases of domestically-made autos fell 3.0% in July to 1.95 million units, off 15.2% y/y. Sales of imported autos improved 7.3% (-29.6% y/y) to 0.88 million units.
Imports' total share of the U.S. vehicle market fell m/m to 24.1% and remained below February's 25.4% share. Imports' share of the passenger car market rose to nearly one-third, but remained down from the September 2021 high of 38.1%. Imports' share of the light truck market fell to 22.2%.
U.S. vehicle sales figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail by manufacturer is in the INDUSTRY database.