Auto sales yet another worry

When consumer confidence takes a fall, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that fewer people are going to buy cars. June sales industrywide fell 4.6 percent from the previous month, which works out to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of a little over 11 million vehicles (chart is from Calculated Risk). That's a bit better than 2009, but keep in mind that people were jumping out of windows in 2009 and therefore not in much of a position to buy a car. One auto dealer told the WSJ that June 2009 was her worst month ever and last month was her second worst. So what happened between May and June? Well, May is almost always a busier time because of Memorial Day weekend. Beyond that I would refer you to the stock market drubbing. Wall Street remains the nation's de facto measuring stick for how the economy is doing (it shouldn't be but it is), and Wall Street not only had a bad month, but an extremely volatile one. Who wants to take out a checkbook in that climate?