Beyond jobs, car sales to give insight on consumer health

Morgan Stanley said that used-car prices could tumble between 25 and 50% by 2021

Forget the jobs report. The most interesting bit of US economic data next week is Monday’s auto sales release, which will offer a measure of the middle-class consumer and a sector of the stock market that has had a rough ride so far in 2017.
 
Economists are looking for another solid month of sales north of 17 million new vehicles at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate for March but nothing like the 18.4 million hit in December, the highest since August 2005.
 
The number would however point to a third consecutive decline on a 12-month rolling basis. With