New Home Sales Fell in December

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U.S. Services Sector Slows in December, Factory Orders Rise

The pace of growth in the services sector slowed for a second straight month in December with business activity expanding at a lower rate and new orders contracting, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

ISM’s index fell to 53 points last month from 53.9 in November, dropping to its lowest reading since June 2013 and under expectations for a read of 54.5.

Separately, financial data firm Markit said its services sector Purchasing Managers Index eased slightly from the prior month, slipping by 0.2 point to 55.7 in the month.

“We think the economy is on track and in recovery mode, and it isn’t unusual to see periodic weak reports,” said David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York. “ISM was a bit weak but the ongoing trend supports an ongoing recovery.”

For both surveys, a reading above 50 indicates expansion. December marked the 48th straight month of growth in ISM’s services index. In addition, ISM’s employment gauge rose to 55.8 from 52.5 in November.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed new orders for factory goods rebounded in November, rising 1.8 percent, as had been forecast.

The department also said orders for durable goods, manufactured products expected to last three years or more, rose 3.4 percent instead of the 3.5 percent increase reported last month. Durable goods orders excluding transportation rose 1.2 percent as previously reported.

December U.S. Auto Sales Miss Expectations

The tough sledding in December does not suggest a difficult 2014, however, as several executives and analysts expect auto industry growth to continue outpacing the overall U.S. economy as it has since the recession.

In addition to the late U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend, December sales were hurt by snow and ice storms that kept consumers away from dealerships, automakers and analysts said.

"Sales were pulled into November, but also people were more impacted by the compressed shopping season, most of which was in December," Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said. "People were doing more Christmas shopping than car shopping."

He added that industry-watchers should not be overly concerned by a December that was affected by the timing of a holiday in the previous month. Last month included January 2 due to a quirk in the calendar that affected how automakers typically report monthly sales.

Monthly auto sales are seen as an early indicator of consumer spending.

U.S. industry sales in 2013 finished at 15.6 million vehicles, up 7.6 percent from 2012, while December results inched up 0.3 percent. The annualized sales rate in the final month was 15.4 million vehicles, well below the 16 million expected by economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The timing of Thanksgiving weekend had a greater impact on December sales than in recent years, causing automakers to miss expectations, said Mustafa Mohatarem, General Motors Co's chief economist.

The late December holiday season is generally one of the heaviest sales periods at U.S. auto dealerships. GM, Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG all said the weather was less of a negative factor than the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday.

December sales were counted through Thursday, when much of the U.S. Midwest was buried in snow. The storm is now over the U.S. Northeast, but January sales will have time to recover from the current storm as the bulk of sales typically occurs later in the month, said Kurt McNeil, GM vice president of U.S. sales operations.

GM shares ended 3.4 percent lower at $39.57 while Ford shares rose 0.5 percent to close at $15.51 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

BEST YEAR SINCE 2007

For all of 2013, industry sales were 50 percent higher than 2009 when they slumped to 10.4 million vehicles during the height of the recession. It was the best full-year performance since 2007, when sales hit 16.1 million vehicles.

While some economists and analysts expect 2014 sales to rise to between 16 million and 16.5 million vehicles, there is growing concern that competition will intensify, leading to higher incentives and lower profit for companies.

Research firm TrueCar.com said vehicle transaction prices fell by an average of $200 per vehicle in December, or 0.6 percent, over last year, while incentives were up $103 per vehicle, or 4 percent.

The gradually improving economy, including stronger job and housing markets, will drive future growth, as opposed to consumers' need to replace aging vehicles, which the industry has described as pent-up demand, said Bill Fay, U.S. head of the Toyota brand. He also cited auto loan interest rates, near historic lows, as a positive.

Ford boasted the biggest gain in U.S. market share for the year, adding four-tenths of a point to finish at 15.9 percent. Subaru also showed the same rate of increase to 2.7 percent.

Chrysler increased its share by two-tenths of a point to 11.3 percent, while GM was flat at 17.9 percent. The biggest losers were Kia and its parent Hyundai Motor Co, which lost four-tenths and three-tenths of a point, respectively, to 3.4 percent and 4.6 percent.

GM's December sales fell 6 percent, to 230,157 new vehicles, below analysts' expectations of a slight sales gain.

Sales of GM's Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup truck fell 16 percent in the month as analysts said the automaker did not load incentives onto the redesigned vehicle to match what rival Ford was doing with its market-leading but older F-Series.

Ford's sales rose 2 percent to 218,058 vehicles, missing expectations. Its F-Series pickup truck, which finished as the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. market for the 32nd straight year, had an 8 percent sales gain.

Toyota's Camry finished as the top-selling passenger car for the 12th consecutive year.

GM introduced new versions of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks last year while Ford will launch a redesign of its trucks later this year.

Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. December sales fell 1.7 percent to 190,843 vehicles, versus expectations of a slight gain.

Chrysler reported a 6 percent gain last month in its U.S. auto sales to 161,007 vehicles. That was the automaker's best December since 2007, but still narrowly missed analyst expectations. Ram pickup truck sales rose 17 percent.

Jeep sales rose 34 percent in the month, led by the new Cherokee, which sold four times as well in December as the vehicle it replaced, the Jeep Liberty, did a year earlier.

Honda Motor Co sales rose 2 percent to 135,255 vehicles, which also missed analysts' expectations.

Nissan Motor Co sales rose 10.5 percent in December, allowing the Japanese automaker to finish with its best year for U.S. sales ever. Hyundai and Kia saw their combined sales also miss analysts' expectations.

Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz won bragging rights as the top-selling luxury brand, edging BMW by a count of 312,534 vehicles to 309,280 vehicles.

Chrysler is majority-owned by Italy's Fiat SpA. Earlier this week, the two companies announced that Fiat would buy the remainder of Chrysler that is currently owned by a United Auto Workers healthcare trust, for $4.35 billion. That deal is expected to close by January 20.

(Editing by James Dalgleish and Matthew Lewis)

Out This Week: December 23, 2013

With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.

Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.

Release Date: Monday, December 23, 2013

Halo: Spartan Assault is a first top-down action shooter designed to provide an accessible, pick-up-and-play experience for Halo fans and newcomers alike. Set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4, Halo: Spartan Assault explores the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and dives deeper into the backstory of Human-Covenant wars. Play through the eyes of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity as they fight in never-before-seen battles against Covenant forces.

With intuitive controls, online Co-op multiplayer, and over 30 stimulating missions at your fingertips, Halo: Spartan Assault for Xbox One and Xbox 360 features a deep storyline with action-packed intensity for the console arena.

Originally released for Windows Phone last July, Spartan Assault was scheduled to debut on Xbox One tomorrow, on Christmas Eve. As a little holiday gift, though, it's gone on sale one day early. Take a look at our video review of the mobile version below, then check back for our analysis of the new Xbox One edition after the holidays:

Release Date: Tuesday, December 24, 2013

From our Review: James Wan and Leigh Whannell's Insidious Chapter 2 fully delivers in terms of exploring the mysteries left behind in the previous installment, while also expanding on its intriguing mythology. However, the sequel also embraces the first film's quirkier, campier aspects, which makes for a few good laughs, but also some less-than-terrifying horror sequences.

Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter

Release Date: Friday, December 27, 2013

Pokémon Bank is an online subscription-based service (and application) that allows players to store and manage Pokémon in online boxes via the Internet. The annual service fee is $4.99 and will go live on December 27. Nintendo previously announced there will be a special 30-day trial period if Pokemon Bank is downloaded and opened by January 31, 2014.

Poké Transporter is a companion application that allows players to transfer monsters from the previous generation of DS games (Black, White, Black 2 and White 2) into the new X and Y 3DS games. The video embedded below explains the whole thing.

Finally, if you try out the free trial any time before January 31, you'll get a free Celebi! The Grass/Psychic legend of the classic Gold and Silver games is a perfect fit in the Kalos region, so filled with Fairy-type Pokémon as it is. (Celebi probably would have been a Fairy-type itself, had Fairy existed back in Generation II.)

Be sure to check back at the beginning of every week for a round-up of the week's hottest game and movie releases.

You can follow Lucas M. Thomas on Twitter, @lucasmthomas.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal - December 12

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Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal - December 12

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Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal - December 7

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Chinese Manufacturing Sector Expanded in December

An important gauge of China’s giant manufacturing sector published Tuesday showed a third successive month of expansion in December and underlined the view that the world’s second-largest economy has settled into a mild rebound that is likely to extend into 2013.

A survey of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector, released by the national statistics bureau on the first day of the new year, produced a reading of 50.6 points for December. Figures above 50 mean the sector is growing, while those below suggest contraction.

A similar survey released by HSBC on Monday painted a similar picture of solidifying recovery. That index, which is more focused on smaller, privately held businesses than its official counterpart, came in at 51.5 - a full point above the November reading, and the highest in 19 months.

After a marked slowdown during much of 2012, the Chinese economy began to regain some momentum during the last few months of the year. A modest increase in exports, combined with government-induced infrastructure spending and other economy-supporting measures, dissipated fears of a ‘'hard landing'’ during the final quarter of 2012. Analysts widely expect the economy to have expanded about 8 percent in 2012, and to record similar or even slightly stronger growth in 2013.

At the same time, however, analysts caution that the Chinese economy will need to grapple with a host of major challenges and that growth is likely to slow by several percentage points over the next decade.

‘'Looking forward, China’s cyclical rebound still faces strong headwinds,'’ Li-Gang Liu and Louis Lam, economists at ANZ, commented in a research note on Tuesday. ‘'Economic and policy uncertainties in the U.S. and the E.U. suggest that external demand for Chinese exports will remain sluggish.'’

Domestically, the government is grappling with rampant corruption and environmental degradation, a widening gap between rich and poor, and the need to reduce the dominance of state-owned enterprises. For growth to be sustainable, the economy will also need to become more driven by domestic demand, rather than government-induced investment and exports, analysts believe.

China’s rapidly changing demographics — an aging population will cause the proportion of non-earners to soar in the coming years — is adding considerable time pressure.

‘'The problem is not so much how to maintain short-term growth momentum, but how to prepare China for the demographic challenge ahead,'’ Yao Wei, an economist at Société Générale in Hong Kong, said at a media briefing in last month. ‘'Within ten years, China will have worse demographics than South Korea or Japan. The window of opportunity for policymakers is closing very quickly,'’ she added.