The US Economy Just Passed A Major Test

Automakers have announced their monthly motor vehicle sales for June, and they've come in VERY strong.

Analysts had expected that the industry would sell cars at a 16.4 million annualized rate in the month. That would have been a slight dip from the month before. Part of the reason a dip was expected was that May sales saw a huge uptick, and part of that was attributed to pent up demand from the bad weather in the first few months of the year.

But instead, sales came in at 16.9 million according to Wards Auto, which takes the car maker sales and then estimates a total industry run rate.

This means the US economy just cleared a huge test. It was very plausible that things would slow down significantly in June, as the post-winter May spurt wore off. That didn't happen. Instead the strength is actually accelerating.