Two pieces of good economic news to report today:
Auto sales in the United States spiked 22% since May with roughly 1.3 milion vehicles sold in June.
From Bloomberg Businessweek:
http://www.businessweek.com/...
JUNE SURPRISE: U.S. auto sales jumped 22 percent in June to nearly 1.3 million. Analysts thought slower hiring might hurt sales. But falling gas prices, new vehicles and low interest rates convinced many to buy.
BIG WINNERS: All major automakers saw gains over June of 2012. Toyota's sales rose 60 percent while Honda's climbed 49 percent. Both companies had little inventory at U.S. dealerships last year because of the earthquake. Volkswagen's sales rose 34 percent.
WHAT'S NEXT: Analysts say sales could soften a bit this summer, but the industry is still on track to have its best year since 2007.
In more good news, factory orders rose .7% in May, surprising many analysts who had expected a worse number, largely based on the weak manufacturing report that came out last week.
From MarketWatch:
http://articles.marketwatch.com/...
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Factory orders in May were stronger than Wall Street had expected, according to U.S. Commerce Department data released Tuesday that showed gains in orders for durable and nondurable goods.
Orders for goods produced in U.S. factories rose 0.7% in May, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 0.1% gain.
Moreover, several crucial indicators from earlier in the year have been revised upward:
The government upwardly revised several key statistics in Tuesday’s manufacturing report. Following two months of declines, orders for durable goods — products meant to last at least three years — rose 1.3% in May, compared with a prior estimate of 1.1%.
Orders of core capital goods, which help gauge investment by businesses, rose 2.1%, compared with a prior estimate of 1.6%. In April, orders for these core goods fell 1.4%.
Of course, the key economic numbers - job growth and the unemployment rate - are due out on Friday. But we'll take every bit of good news we can get these days.