Manufacturing sales of $69B in January beat estimates slightly, but were still down 3% - the largest sequential drop in three years…

… driven by a 39% decline in motor vehicle sales, echoing January’s trade print and flowing through to wholesale sales - which fell 1% M/M.

While short-lived, the production stoppage impacting the category showed up across the print - with transportation equipment balances rising 4%…

… and capacity utilization in the industry falling 9%, dragging plant efficiency down for the third month straight.