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BUSINESSWednesday 2 December
Wall Street off to solid start in December GM, Toyota sales rise in strong
November for US auto industry
KEN SWEET decisions from both central 5 percent.
AP Business Writer banks will be important in This jobs report comes DEE-ANN DURBIN
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks determining the fate of the shortly before the Fed’s AP Auto Writer
started off December on market in the last month of two-day meeting later this DETROIT (AP) — November used to be a slow month
a strong note, helped by 2015. month, where policymak- for U.S. car sales. Not anymore.
improving economic data “As it has been most of this ers will debate moving in- Black Friday promotions — some of which began well
from Japan and Europe year, central banks are still terest rates in the opposite before Thanksgiving — were expected to push last
as well as hopes that the running the show,” said Sa- direction of the ECB: higher. month’s sales to near-record levels. Car buying site
European Central Bank mantha Azzarello, global Securities that allow inves- Edmunds.com predicted sales of new cars and trucks
will expand its stimulus pro- market strategist at J.P. tors to bet on which way will hit 1.33 million, eclipsing the previous November
gram. Trading remained Morgan Funds. the Fed will move rates are record set in 2001.
relatively quiet ahead of The ECB will decide on forecasting a 79 percent General Motors’ sales rose 1.5 percent over last No-
the release later this week Thursday whether to ex- probability that the Fed will vember, while Toyota and Fiat Chrysler’s each saw 3
of the U.S. government’s pand its economic stimu- tighten. Unless Friday’s jobs percent sales gains. Hyundai’s sales jumped 12 per-
monthly jobs survey and a lus program, which func- report is horrific, that is un- cent, while Nissan’s were up 4 percent. Ford’s sales
Federal Reserve meeting tions similarly to the bond- likely to change. were flat.
later this month. buying program the Fed “Generally the last couple Honda’s sales fell 5 percent, hurt by lower CR-V sales.
The Dow Jones industrial used after the financial of weeks have been very But the biggest sales declines were at Volkswagen.
average rose 168.43 points, crisis to keep long-term in- quiet. We’ve been and VW’s U.S. sales plummeted almost 25 percent, hurt
or 1 percent, to 17,888.35. terest rates low. ECB head will be in a holding pattern by the company’s admission that its diesel vehicles
cheated on emissions tests.
Traders Thomas Kaye, center, and Frederick Reimer confer on the floor of the New York Stock November was a notoriously slow sales month until
about five years ago, when car dealers joined oth-
Exchange, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. Stocks started off December on a strong note, helped by er retailers in promoting Black Friday, according to
Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell. Now, like Ama-
improving economic data from Japan and Europe as well as hopes that the European Central zon, Wal-Mart and others, dealers started promoting
“Black Friday” deals as early as Halloween. Jeep of-
Bank will expand its stimulus program. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) fered zero percent financing for up to 75 months. GM
teased savings of up to 20 percent of for its Buick,
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Mario Draghi has signaled head of the Fed’s Decem- Chevrolet and GMC brands. Hyundai offered an ex-
index rose 22.22 points, or the bank could expand its ber meeting,” said Ryan tra $500 on the Sonata sedan between Nov. 20 and
1.1 percent, to 2,102.63 bond-buying program or Larson, head of equity Nov. 30.
and the Nasdaq compos- even cut interest rates fur- trading with RBC Global Ford’s U.S. sales chief Mark LaNeve said sales got pro-
ite rose 47.64 points, or 0.9 ther. Asset Management. gressively stronger as November progressed, and the
percent, to 5,156.31. Investors are so certain In energy markets, bench- last day of the month was one of the best days this
Financial stocks were that Draghi will expand mark U.S. crude rose 20 year.
among the biggest gain- his program that data cents to $41.85 a barrel on Deals can be dangerous for the auto industry be-
ers, helped by the pros- out Tuesday showing the the New York Mercantile cause they cut into profits and lower vehicles’ resale
pect of higher interest unemployment rate in Exchange. Brent crude, value. Incentives have been creeping upward since
rates. Banks are more prof- the 19-country eurozone which is used to price 2011; in November, they rose an estimated $172 over
itable when interest rates edged down to a four- oil internationally, lost 17 last year to $3,066 per vehicle, according to the car
rise because they can year low of 10.7 percent in cents to $44.44 a barrel in buying site TrueCar.com.
charge more to lend. JPM- October is not seen as like- London. Heating oil rose But Eric Lyman, vice president for industry insights at
organ Chase rose 93 cents, ly to derail those measures. a cent to $1.369 a gallon, TrueCar, says the gradual increase isn’t a worrisome
or 1.4 percent, to $67.61. In the U.S., most of the fo- wholesale gasoline rose trend for the industry. For one thing, companies are
Goldman Sachs rose $3.05, cus will be on the Novem- six cents to $1.363 a gal- making more profit per vehicle than they used to be-
or 1.6 percent, to $193.07 ber job’s report, to be lon and natural gas was cause they’re selling more SUVs and trucks. The aver-
and Bank of America rose released Friday. Expecta- roughly unchanged at age sale price of a vehicle last month was $32,966,
38 cents, or 2.2 percent, to tions are high. Economists $2.231 per thousand cu- up 1 percent from the previous month.
$17.81. expect that U.S. employ- bic feet. U.S. government Automakers are also trying to capture as many sales
Investors are keyed into ers added 271,000 jobs last bond prices rose. The yield as they can in the boom years before sales inevitably
both the European Cen- month, according to Fact- on the 10-year Treasury slow. Rising interest rates, higher gas prices and other
tral Bank and the Federal Set. The unemployment note fell to 2.14 percent factors are all expected to stall auto sales sometime
Reserve this month. Policy rate is expected remain at from 2.21 percent.q in the next few years.
“It’s kind of like, make hay while the sun shines,” Ly-
man said.
And the sun is certainly shining. Last week, sales fore-
casting firm LMC Automotive said sales are now likely
to reach a record 17.5 million in 2015.
For November, automakers said:
— GM’s sales rose 1.5 percent to 229,296. Chevrolet
and Cadillac brand sales were up but fell at Buick
and GMC. Sales of GM’s best-seller, the Silverado
pickup, rose 5 percent.
— Toyota’s sales rose 3 percent to 189,517. In a sign
of the impact of lower gas prices, sales of the RAV4
SUV jumped nearly 30 percent while Prius hybrid sales
were down 10 percent. — Ford’s sales were up less
than 1 percent to 187,794. A 10-percent increase in F-
Series pickup sales couldn’t overcome lower sales of
key vehicles like the Escape SUV and Fusion sedan.q
