| The Death of Shipping and BDI Is Premature In August and September the outlook for shipping and dry bulk shipping rates, was very poor even while the stock market surged up in September. This resulted in more articles predicting Stock market doom. But in October the rate has moved up, as world trade in the Atlantic is improving. The rate has moved up about 30% .Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
BNI / Buffett Interview: Go West Young Man? Nadav Manham submits: Matthew Rose, CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNI), which is about to be bought by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), conducted an in-house interview with Warren Buffett about the pending acquisition. BNSF filed the transcript of the interview as a 425. This excerpt in particular planted a little seed in my head:MKR: Okay, next question. In 10 years, how will you evaluate the acquisition of BNSF, whether or not it's been successful?Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
What Toyota Probes Are Likely to Find Rick Newman submits:Can America's best scientists figure out what's wrong with Toyotas? Probably. And chances are, they'll reach conclusions very similar to what Toyota (TM) itself has found.To get to the bottom of the mysterious "sudden acceleration" problems that have plagued Toyota, the government has established two high-caliber probes. Experts from NASA, the space agency, will investigate whether evasive electronic bugs in Toyota vehicles could be causing the cars to speed up without warning—and without leaving a trace of the problem. And the prestigious National Academy of Sciences will convene its own group to study whether the widespread replacement of mechanical systems by electronics—in cars built by virtually every automaker—could be causing sudden acceleration or other safety problems.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Electric Cars and Oil Demand John Lounsbury submits:Green crusaders have long offered a scenario where electric vehicles would diminish the burning of fossil fuels. Other analysts have suggested that the impact on oil consumption will be negligible because of limited driving ranges for all-electric vehicles.A Reuters report by Fang Yan and Jacqueline Wong quotes the Shanghai Securities News. The News says that China is increasing from 13 to 20 cities the participants in a pilot program to subsidize the purchase of clean energy public transport vehicles. The report also says that a new program will be unveiled shortly to pay purchase incentives to private auto buyers amounting to approximately $8,800 for pure plug-in electric vehicles, approximately $7,300 for plug-in hybrid vehicles and about $440 for traditional hybrids. China had previously announced a program for incentives in five cities. Nothing is indicated about the geographic extent of the new program.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
FedEx Expects 'Slower Growth' Going Forward Cullen Roche submits: There were many interesting takeaways from FedEx’s (FDX) Q2 conference call this morning. FedEx is an important barometer of global economic health as they serve as one of the few transports that truly reaches all segments of the global economy. Their outlook for the economy can really be summed up by two different comments made on the call. CEO Fred Smith told analysts: We expect a phase of somewhat slower economic growth going forward. Slower growth is consistent with historic business cycles.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |