Pay Attention To Car Sales Numbers Today

It's the first Friday of the month, but due to the holiday calendar the January jobs report won't be until Friday.

But there's still an important number to watch.

From Calculated Risk: "Light vehicle sales for December. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to decrease to 16.0 million SAAR in December (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) from 16.3 million SAAR in November."

Historically, car sales line up nicely with employment, which makes a lot of sense as unemployed people don't buy cars. 2013 shaped up to be a much stronger year for car sales than expected, and the numbers reported by auto companies today will be important to watch.