The hottest ride on Wall Street right now is the humble used car.The cost of clunkers and dealership trade-ins has suddenly become market-moving information, with analysts, economists and traders fixating on an obscure indicator called the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index.“I’ve never spent so much time looking at it,” said Robert Rosener, a senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley. “I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time talking about used car prices in my life, either.”The Manheim index provides a monthly update on the prices of used cars sold in wholesale auctions. …
