Markets in Asis were mixed.
The Nikkei fell 1.3% to 9,549. Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:MTU) fell. Honda (NYSE:HMC) and Toyota (NYSE:TM) fell. Sony (NYSE:SNE) was also off.
The Hang Seng dropped 1% to 22,643. China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) ticked up.
The Shanghai Composite rose .5% to 3,321.
At the open in Europe, the FTSE dropped .2%. The Dax was off .2% to 5,777. The CAC 40 dipped .2% to 3,320.
Data from Reuters and MarketWatch.
Douglas A. McIntyre
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety came out with its annual list of safest cars. Ford (NYSE:F) and its Volvo unit got six awards, VW and Subaru each got five.
Chrysler had four cars on the list and Honda (NYSE:HMC) and GM each had two
Toyota (NYSE:TM), BMW, Mazda Motor and Mitsubishi ended up with nothing. Read More
The restructuring of the American car business is still a work in progress. Chrysler laid people off as late as last month. The industry fired tens of thousands of people during 2008 and 2009. Toyota (NYSE:TM), considered by most the preeminent auto firm in the world, cut costs, people, and production capacity. It is hard to see how any more meat can be taken off the bone of the global car sector. Read More
Toyota (NYSE:TM) did not keep its top spot as the world’s largest car company for very long. It held the crown for about a year. Industry statistics show the new VW-Porsche combination has produced 4.4 million cars this year compared to only 4 million by Toyota.
According to The Guardian, Toyota’s cut in production helped VW take the top spot. Toyota could ramp up manufacturing again as the recession ends and move into the No.1 spot once more.
VW may be helped by the fact that it sells almost no cars in America. Read More
Almost no one expected any of the world’s largest car companies to make money this year. Sales around the globe are simply down too much and efforts to cut costs have not been enough to match the drop-off in revenue.
Ford (NYSE:F) shocked Wall St. by making almost $1 billion in the third quarter. Even more of a surprise, it made money in its flagging North American operations.
A second surprise profit was posted today, by the world’s largest car company, Toyota (NYSE:TM) Read More
Reuters: Toyota (NYSE:TM) returned to a profit.
Reuters: The Fed will keep rates near zero for an extended period.
Reuters: Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) beat forecasts.
Reuters: Gold is near $1,100. Read More
The three major car racing circuits–Formula One, NASCAR, and Indy Car–have built a multi-billion business. Formula 1 revenue, which includes sponsorships and broadcast fees, is estimated to be $3.9 billion, which is more per event than either the NFL or The Premier League of soccer clubs.
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has elected to pull out of Formula 1 because of cost considerations. The world’s largest car company has lost money for more than a year. Read More
Reuters: Opel must now arrange for GM’s unexpected ownership
Reuters: The Fed will probably keep its “easy money” program.
Reuters: Toyota (NYSE:TM) will pull out of Formula 1 racing.
Reuters: The IEA will cut its long-term oil demand outlook. Read More
GM’s sales rose unexpectedly, by 4% in October to 177,603 cars and light trucks. Chevrolet retail sales were especially strong, up 31%. The No.1 US car company said fourth quarter production would be 17% above the third quarter of the year.
GM’s news follows positive news from Ford (NYSE:F) which had a sales increase of almost 3% in October to 132,483. Sales of the third market leader, Toyota (NYSE:TM) were flat at 152,165.
Chrysler’s sales were down, as expected, falling 30% to 65,803.
Taken as a whole, the October data indicates that US car sales have bottomed and that the rest of the quarter may be stronger than expected.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Jerome York is a nasty piece of work and a financial genius who has been successful as a lieutenant to billionaire raider Kirk Kerkorian. York’s curriculum vita as a financial analyst is impeccable. He has been CFO of Chrysler and IBM (NYSE:GM) and a board member of GM, when it still had a real board, and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
York was at the center of Kerkorian’s efforts to sell-off Chrysler and GM, or at least get new managements for them both. He knows the global auto industry as well as anyone in the world who does not work in it full time, and probably better than most of those who do. Read More
Reuters: The value of the yuan could cause a trade war between the US and China.
Reuters: Executive pensions rose despite drops in stock prices.
Reuters: Lloyds will make a large stock offering.
Reuters: Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) bought Black & Decker (NYSE:BDK) for $3.46 billion.
Reuters: CIT’s (NYSE:CIT) exit from bankruptcy is not clear.
Reuters: UBS (NYSE:UBS) posted a loss and wealth management clients continued to leave.
Reuters: Ford (NYSE:F) posted a surprise profit.
Reuters: Manufacturing and pending home sales both rose.
Reuters: Volker said the economy could not rely on consumer spending.
Reuters: The commercial real estate business is still in deep trouble.
WSJ: Toyota (NYSE:TM) expects a monthly sales decline.
WSJ: IllyCaffè SpA will work with local coffee shops to compete with Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).
WSJ: The head of the IMF says financial firms are going back to old practices.
WSJ: Blu-ray makers are becoming more involved with web video.
WSJ: Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is the focus of a number of bearish comments.
WSJ: Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) is making a push into ETFs.
WSJ: GM’s board will revisit the Opel sale.
WSJ: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office faces inexpensive versions of similar software.
WSJ: Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) may need to get cash from its Canadian operation which presents challenges.
WSJ: Problems are beginning to appear in the financials of Chinese banks.
WSJ: Business bankruptcies rose 7% in October.
NYT: The US will allow GM to use federal money to put into Delphi.
NYT: The Supreme Court is looking at fees advisors charge mutual funds.
NYT: The Senate is pushing insurance companies on the amount of premiums they actually spend on care.
NYT: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) may buy tax credits from Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM)
FT: The Fed has asked banks to adopt it new pay rules early to cover 2009 compensation.
FT: Ebay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) PayPal has opened doors to outside developers.
Bloomberg: The next head of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) may be based in NYC.
Douglas A. McIntyre
The UAW rank-and-file may have given Ford a little fit over the weekend by voting down a contract with the No.2 US car company.
Monday dawned a better day as Ford may the surprise announcement that it made $1 billion in the third quarter. The firm reported net income of $997 million, or $.28 per share, an improvement of $1.2 billion from the third quarter of 2008. Pre-tax operating profit totaled $1.1 billion, an improvement of $3.9 billion from a year ago. It was Ford’s first pre-tax operating profit since the first quarter of 2008. Read More
Consumer Reports came out with its annual new car reliability survey. The study is widely anticipated because it pre=”it “>is based on the opinions of 1.4 million people and because the Consumers Union is considered unbiased in its work of evaluating goods and services for the American public. It is also one of the most well-known non-profit organizations in the US. Read More
Markets in Asia were mixed
The Nikkei fel 1.4% to 10,075. Honda (NYSE:HMC) rose on good earnings and Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Sony (NYSE:SNE) are about to announce their results.
The Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 21,893.
The Shanghai Composite was up .3% to 3,031.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre
When GM decided to close its Saturn and Pontiac brands it forgot to put a “do not resuscitate” sign on Cadillac.
Cadillac is in trouble, and that trouble is likely to get much worse in 2010 due to a poor product mix, a leasing system that puts it at a huge disadvantage to its competition, and an ongoing perception that many of its models are not as well-made as their Japanese and European counterparts. Read More
There are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.
24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)
Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.
24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?
Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”. Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless. How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business. Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.
24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?
Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets. A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value. If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.
The list: Read More
Markets in Asia were higher.
The Nikkei rose 2.1% to 10,273. Sony (NYSE:SNE), Toyota (NYSE:TM), and Honda (NYSE:HMC) were all higher.
The Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 22,125. HSBC (NYSE:HBC) was up.
The Shanghai Composite moved up .3% to 2,980.
At the open in Europe, the FTSE was up .1% to 5,260. The Dax was higher by .2% to 5,862. The CAC 40 rose .1% to 3,885. Nokia (NYSE:NOK) which is scheduled to report earnings, was up.
Data from MarketWatch and Reuters
Douglas A. McIntyre
GM’s sales may be taking a thrashing in its home market, but Chines sales for the No.1 US car company are getting good enough to trump the company’s trouble in America, or at least offset.
GM said that its sales in China rose to 181,148. Sales for the first nine months of 2009 where up and extraordinary 55% to 1.3 million vehicles. Read More
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is not trading lower on a patent investigation in the United States. There is no way to know at this time just how broad the implications could be for Toyota or other hybrid makers, but the U.S. International Trade Commission, or the ITC, has voted to investigate patents that pertain to certain hybrid electric vehicles and their components in certain hybrid electric vehicles containing both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, as well as components. This specifically targets Toyota in the complaint, brought by Paice LLC of Bonita Springs, Florida.
Read More
Chrysler is in deep trouble. It is deep enough that analysts and the media have questioned whether it has enough cash to make it through a turnaround, especially in a harsh auto sales enviroment in the US.
The head of Fiat who now runs Chrysler as well gave a sign that the problems at Chrysler are indeed very severe. He fired the CEOs of both the Chrysler and Dodge brands. They are being replaced by more junior managers at the No.3 US car company. Read More
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