More home-construction permits were issued in October than at any time in the past five years, a sign the residential real- estate market is gaining momentum heading into 2014, according to data last week from the Commerce Department.
Auto Sales
Auto sales remain on pace for their best year since 2007. General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC led November U.S. sales gains that met or exceeded analysts’ estimates as dealers stepped up promotion of year-end offers to try to trim inventory. The industry’s annualized industry sales rate improved to 16.3 million in November, the strongest since May 2007, according to Ward’s Automotive Group.
Even as sales increased 7.1 percent in November at Ford Motor Co., the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said it’s looking to cut back production by 2 percent in the first quarter compared with the same three months this year.
“We’re looking to manage our inventory, manage supply with demand, always,” Erich Merkle, a U.S. sales analyst at Ford, said in a Dec. 3 conference call. “In terms of the production, we are monitoring that very closely for the first quarter, and we could always have the ability, if we choose to, to add some back if necessary.”
Today’s report also showed price pressures are subdued. A measure of inflation, which is linked to consumer spending and strips out food and energy costs, rose at a 1.5 percent rate.
Federal Reserve officials are keeping an eye on inflation as they consider scaling back their $85 billion-a-month bond- buying program, known as quantitative easing. Policy makers have signaled they may taper “in coming months” if the economy improves as anticipated, according to minutes released Nov. 20 from the Fed’s Open Market Committee meeting concluded Oct. 30.