Courtesy of Mish.
Auto sales numbers have been poor, but the Commerce Department durable goods report says motor vehicles and parts shipments and orders are up.
In a separate report on inventories, the Commerce Department says that for May, the unadjusted retail motor vehicles inventory was -1.0%. However, the seasonally-adjusted inventory number was +1.1%. This is a 2.1 percentage point difference between the adjusted and unadjusted numbers.
Inquiring minds may be wondering if this seasonal adjustment is normal and whether or not there is a bubble in auto inventories.
Let’s address the questions with a look at charts and tables I created from a Census Data Download.
Motor Vehicles and Parts Retail Inventories
Motor Vehicle Sales
Motor Vehicles and Parts Inventories Seasonally-Adjusted and Unadjusted
