Car Sales -- October, 2016; New 4Q16 GDP Estimate -- November 1, 2016

From NPR:

• overall, sales fall
• GM was probably the winner, despite sales falling
• GM sales fell 1.7%
• comparing October, 2016, with October, 2015: two fewer selling days this October
• 17.7 million sales this October
• Americans moving away from sedan; toward SUVs
• Ford will delay sales figures due to fire at company's headquarters in Dearborn, MI
• GM exceeded expectations: SUVs, trucks, and crossovers offsetting declines elsewhere
• Fiat Chrysler: sales down 10%! Two bright spots: Ram and Maserati.
• Tesla: up by 4%

EV sales are generally reported later in the month; usually a week or so after the others report -- having said that most manufacturers are have already reported for the month of October:

• Chevrolet Volt, steady
• Tesla Models S and X way down, but that's understandable as we move toward Model 3
• Nissan Leaf, steady

In fact, among the EVs, every make/model appears "steady" -- no breakouts, no serious declines; just same 'ol, same 'ol.

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4Q16 GDP Estimate

From The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta:

Latest forecast: 2.3 percent — November 1, 2016.

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2016 is 2.3 percent on November 1, down from 2.7 percent on October 31.

After this morning's Manufacturing ISM Report On Business from the Institute of Supply Management, the forecasts of the fourth-quarter growth rates of real consumer spending and real nonresidential equipment investment declined from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent and 4.3 percent to 2.7 percent, respectively. The forecasts of the growth rates of real residential investment and real nonresidential structures investment declined from 3.2 percent to 2.2 percent and 0.5 percent to -0.7 percent, respectively, after the ISM Report and the construction spending release from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Gasoline Demand

I've said before that if I had to select only metric to track the US economy it would be gasoline demand.

This graph says it all:

Pretty striking, I would say, and I did not hear anyone talking about this precipitous fall. I'm sure the analysts have it all figured out.