Shares of Ford Motor Co. dropped 2% in morning trade Tuesday, after the automaker reported a decline in U.S. vehicle sales in July, led lower by a drop in retail sales. Total company sales fell 3% from a year ago to 216,479 vehicles, as a 6% drop in retail sales to 161,158 vehicles offset a 6% increase in fleet sales to 55,321. Truck sales increased 4.8% to 87,104 vehicles, while SUVs dropped 5.6% to 69,521 vehicles and cars fell 9.3% to 59,854 vehicles. After Ford reported second-quarter results late week, Chief Financial Officer Robert Shanks said in a conference call that Ford was seeing sort of a “car recession,” according to a transcript provided by FactSet. The stock has now tumbled 12% since second-quarter results were reported. It has lost 13% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.2%.
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