Used car prices show their first sustained decline
Inventory finally caught up with the post-pandemic appetite.
Expect the next chapter to be quieter than this one, and more consequential. The loud part is usually the prologue.
The numbers tell part of the story. The rest lives in the texture of how people are actually behaving when no one is watching.
Practical effects are already visible on the ground, and they tend to outrun the official analysis by a comfortable margin.
What makes this moment unusual is not the size of the move but its shape. The curve bends in a way that resists easy analogies.
The institutional response has been measured, which in this context is a polite way of saying slow.
A small group of practitioners has been arguing for this approach for years. They are doing their best not to look smug.
