Despite a slight dip from May, automobile sales in the U.S. are experiencing a massive year-over-year jump this month, according to a new report.
The report, released by research and forecasting company TrueCar, anticipates 1.2 million vehicle sales in the U.S. in June and a year-over-year increase of 18.1 percent. This represents a 13.6 million seasonally adjusted rate, up from 11.5 million in June 2011.
However, this is down 6.9 percent from May's sales and 13.8 million seasonally adjusted rate. While sales have fallen this month, some analysts point to the massive increase over 2011 as a sign of elongated improvement.
Some have also suggested that the major increase may have more to do with struggling times in 2011, brought on by unforeseen disasters. An article in the Wall Street Journal points to a major increase in sales of Asian-manufactured autos as evidence.
"The numbers in part reflect recovery for Toyota and Honda following problems last year resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and later flooding in Thailand," the article says.
Honda, Nissan and Toyota were among the biggest gainers this month compared to June 2011. Toyota alone rose 67.9 percent year-over-year, but the company's sales decline from May was above average at 8.3 percent.
Analysts that adopt the big picture line of thinking are optimistic about the results in this report, but it should be remembered that optimistic reports don't always produce positive market performance. Investors and financial advisors interested in related ETFs should examine the fundamentals of underlying stocks before investing.
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