Chici economy- carless, homeless, incomeless, creditless, inventory-building economy
Car sales fell and inventories up again:
GM said its inventory ballooned to 114 days’ supply. Fiat Chrysler said its inventory amounted to 105 days worth of vehicles at January’s sales pace, up from 79 days in December. Ford’s inventory rose to 111 days. Dave Winslow, chief digital strategist at technology provider Dealer.com, said he didn’t see any reason for sales to be hurt by weather.
EM currencies to hurt US earnings translations.
Last year’s austerity measures seem to have taken their toll on disposable personal income, which ultimately supports growth:
No consumer relief via energy prices, which if anything, are a bit firmer.
Redbook and Goldman sales today both weak, though ‘minor’ indicators:
Highlights
The trend for chain-store reports, first ICSC-Goldman earlier this morning and now Redbook, continues to slope sharply downward with Redbook’s year-on-year same-store sales rate at plus 2.7 percent in the February 1 week, driving down the 4-week average by 3 tenths to plus 3.0 percent for the lowest reading since June. Heavy and especially cold weather have been taking a toll on store sales so far this year. Watch for January reports from chain stores themselves on Thursday’s Econoday calendar.
