Tanking car sales the “canary in a coal mine” for economy

Advertisement

By Leith van Onselen

Harold Mitchell has penned an article today in Fairfax warning that the recent sharp decline in new car sales is like the “canary in a coal mine” for the economy:

Car sales are dropping. July sales were down 8 per cent and followed May and June which recorded reduced volumes on the previous year. My researcher and forecaster Charlie gets very excited about car sales as an economic indicator and he tells me we are experiencing the worst decline since July 2011. Something not so good is going on… car sales are like the canary in the coal mine…

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:
Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe
About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.