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New-Vehicle Sales Fall to 1999 Levels: How to Grow Revenues After 20 Years of Stagnation

Posted by Wolf Richter

on Thursday, 4 July 2019 9:31

Ford waited until today to report its second-quarter new-vehicle deliveries in the US. So now we know what happened to total US auto sales in the second quarter and in the first half this year, and it wasn’t pretty. New-vehicle deliveries, fleet and retail combined, fell 1.5% in Q2 compared to Q2 last year, to 4.5 million vehicles; and in the first half fell by 2.4% to 8.4 million vehicles.

This puts new vehicle sales on track to fall below 17 million units for the year. This would be the worst level since 2014. According to my own estimates, new vehicle sales in 2019 will decline to 16.95 million units, roughly on par with 1999, in a horribly mature market, whose two-decade stagnation was interrupted by the excitement of a collapse and recovery back to stagnation levels…CLICK for complete article

40% Of Americans Think A Recession Is Looming

Posted by Damir Kaletovic

on Wednesday, 3 July 2019 9:18

Despite the fact that the American economy is going strong, with high GDP growth and the lowest level of employment in 40 years, a survey from Bankrate.com shows that nearly 40 percent of Americans believe the next recession is already here or awaits us in the next 12 months.  So, why do experts says the economy is good, if not excellent, when the Average Joe has an entirely different sentiment?

Indeed, the BankRate survey noted that 88 percent of “experts” say the economy is “good,” and 11 percent even describe it as “excellent. The disconnect between the two groups is difficult to understand at a time when the U.S. economy has achieved its longest growth record without recession. In fact, we’re looking at a 10-year growth spurt. In other words, 121 months of straight growth….CLICK for complete article 

It’s Easy To Forget The Best of Canada

Posted by Michael Campbell

on Monday, 1 July 2019 9:13

While politicians push the politics of division amidst an avalanche of misleading statements and at times outright lies it’s easy to overlook the rest of Canada that’s on display daily in communities across the country.

Editorial – Vancouver’s City Council Chooses Empty Gesture On Climate Change

Posted by Michael Campbell

on Saturday, 29 June 2019 10:59

They promote airport expansions and cruise ships yet somehow Vancouver (and Victoria’s) city council takes aim at oil producers without pointing a deserving finger at themselves.

The Fed’s Stealth Stimulus Has Arrived

Posted by Wolf Richter

on Friday, 28 June 2019 8:31

Let me just throw this out there for us to kick around: The Fed has already accomplished more with its verbiage so far this year than it had in the past when it actually cut rates multiple times, all the way down to near zero, and did trillions of dollars of QE. We’re already seeing the first results. Here’s why.

The US government can directly stimulate the economy by borrowing trillions and spending them in the US on infrastructure, on its employees, armaments, etc. The Fed cannot do this. It can only try to manipulate the credit environment in a credit-based economy.

The way the Fed tries to stimulate the economy is to loosen up credit, meaning it wants to encourage banks and other entities to lend, and encourage or force investors to invest more by taking larger risks for less return, as they begin to chase yield. The hope is that this will result in easy access to borrowed money for businesses and consumers, that they can borrow cheaply, and that they will go out and spend and invest this money. This spending and investment stimulate the economy….CLICK for complete article

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