Auto sales/Casey's tells us about their customer/Bowling is popular

I forgot to mention yesterday auto sales for August. They totaled 15.13mm at a SAAR, below the estimate of 15.4mm and compares with 15.04mm in August 2023 and well below the 16.97mm print in August 2019. I guess it should not be a surprise though with many consumers financially stretched and the cost of borrowing to buy a car pretty elevated at 7.8% on average for a 5 yr loan according to Bankrate. That compares with 4.6% in January 2020. Throw in near record highs in terms of the cost of an average vehicle. 

More to this, from the Beige Book this week, the Philly region said this on auto sales, "Auto sales continued to decline modestly during the period as ongoing affordability concerns led to softening demand. Contacts reported that many dealers introduced or increased incentives in an attempt to work through growing inventories of new vehicles."

From Cleveland: "Auto dealers reported that affordability concerns continued to hamper sales, and reports varied on the availability and generosity of manufacturers' incentives on new vehicle purchases."