Auto Sales to Disappoint?

Light vehicle sales for January - to be announced tomorrow - are expected to increase to 12.6 million (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), from 12.5 million in December.

There were a couple of articles out today suggesting sales slowed at the end of the month.

From Bloomberg (ht jb):

Ford Motor Co. said the U.S. industrywide auto sales rate may be lower in January than December ...

From Reuters: Auto sales seen losing momentum in January

U.S. auto sales lost momentum in the final weeks of January, auto executives and a leading analyst cautioned on Monday ... J.D. Power forecast a January sales rate of between 11.5 million and 12 million vehicles, down sharply from the outlook for 12.2 million it had given just 10 days before.

... on Monday Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said that industry-wide sales had fallen off in the final weeks of the month, which typically account for the bulk of sales.

"We've seen a softening of the U.S. market in the last couple of weeks," Marchionne told reporters ...

We will know tomorrow. Blame it on the snow?