TTT - Peak Auto Part II: The Classic Economic Cycle
Total vehicle sales is one of many classic leading economic indicators of the business cycle. Vehicle sales historically peak preceding recessionary periods due to the relatively large sticker price of the good in the consumer basket, the sensitivity to interest rates, and the economic concept of pent-up demand.
Classic economic indicators that tend to lead turning points of the business cycle have these three characteristics.
I wrote an article several weeks back, "Peak Auto" that discussed these trends and linked the data to several popular