As energy and food prices in the United States rose again, used car prices also rose for the first time in four months.
On Thursday, August 17, Cox Automotive, a research company in the US automotive industry, released new data for the first 15 days of August, showing a slight increase in used car wholesale prices in the United States, which is considered by the market as a sign that inflation may be sticky.
The figure rose 0.1% month-on-month, the first increase in four months. But compared to the full month of August 2022, the figure fell by 7.8%.
Some analysts believe that the tight supply of used cars in late summer may be promoting the trend of inflation strengthening again.
In the first half of August, year-on-year, the price of used cars of all types of models was declining. Among them, pickup trucks, sports cars, cars, vans and SUVs decreased by 2.9%, 4.6%, 6.6% and 7.5% respectively year-on-year. By vehicle size, compact car prices fell the most, down 13.5% year-on-year, followed by midsize car prices, down 11.9% year-on-year, and luxury car prices down 8.8%.
The increase in car prices in the first half of August may be attributed to the tight used car market. Cox Automotive explains:
Retail used cars are in supply a little tighter than usual at this time of year.
Supply and demand in the new and used car market remains tight. However, rising interest rates have significantly weighed on car demand, while the disposable income and personal savings of the average consumer are declining.
Recently, food and energy inflation has rebounded, raising concerns that inflation may be on the rise.
A team led by Rob Subbaraman, chief economist at Nomura, pointed out in the latest report that the upside risks to inflation in most economies have increased from the recent continuous rise in energy and food prices, and inflation in most countries is still well above target, and if the surge in commodity prices is driven by supply rather than demand, it may have more serious stagflation consequences.
Recently, the news of tighter supply in the crude oil market has pushed international oil prices to continue to rise, and as of Friday, August 11, international oil prices have recorded seven consecutive weeks of rise, setting the longest consecutive rise in 2022.
In terms of food, due to geopolitical conflicts and extreme weather, global food production and transportation are facing greater challenges, and some analysts believe that this may further push up global inflation in the future.
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