The rebound in automobile sales has felt very slow, but looks sharp on the chart below. With housing rebounding and employment generally improving, consumer durable sales have improved. Note that the series is only about 15% away from its historical average on a monthly SAAR basis. Interestingly, the uptick in auto sales coincides with the recovery in the housing market. New home sales also have a long way to go before they reach even low historical norms, but housing is on the road to recovery and has been a key component of our macro global growth thesis.
