From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
Moments ago, the Fed released the latest, November, consumer credit data: it was not good. Rising by just $13.95 trillion [that should be billion], it was a big miss to the $18.5 trillion [ditto] expected, and below the $15.6 billion downward revised increase in October. In fact, three months after the historic surge in September to the highest print in the revised series, total consumer credit has tumbled to the lowest since January.
But the big problem was not in the total data, but in one of the two key component data sets.
Recall that a few days ago we noted something very disturbing for US auto makers: for all the hoopla around the auto sales number, US domestic car sales had actually dropped to a 6 month low, missing estimates by the most since 2008.
What was just as disturbing was that “plans to buy an auto” had tumbled the most since January of 2013.
Lacking the most recent credit data, we did not know what may have caused this dramatic slowdown in auto purchasing, and intentions. Now that we have the data, we also have the answer, because while revolving consumer credit rose at a respectable pace of $5.7 billion in November, it was that all important “other” series, non-revolving credit – the source of funds for student and auto loans – where there was a dramatic slowdown.
To continue reading: Auto Sales Are About To Choke
