U.S. auto sales boomed in 2023

TheStreet's J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading Tuesday, January 3rd.

Full Video Transcript Below:

J.D. DURKIN: I’m J.D. Durkin, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks were x to close out today's session. The Dow closed x, the Nasdaq closed x, and the S&P closed x. This comes after further signs of cooling in the labor market – recent data showed that there were 8.7 million job openings in November, the lowest level seen since March 2021.

Investors are also reacting to minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, which showed that officials discussed interest rate cuts.

In other news, after what was deemed the worst sales year in more than a decade in 2022, carmakers came back in a big way in 2023. While some automakers have yet to report fourth-quarter sales, analysts predict auto sales industry-wide to increase from 2022 with about 15.5 million vehicles sold. The increase in sales is largely due to more demand and better availability at dealerships.

General Motors led the pack with 2.6 million cars sold last year, a 14 percent year-over-year increase. It’s the second consecutive year that G.M. has claimed the top sales spot.

Coming in directly behind G.M. is Toyota, which saw U.S. sales increase by about 7 percent to 2.3 million cars sold. And with an increase of 11 percent over 2022, Hyundai Motor had its best sales year to date.

It was also a better year for consumers. After the average price of a new car peaked at almost $50,000 in December of 2022, that number now stands at just over $46,000.

That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.