| Rising Car Sales Are Another 'V' Sign for the Economy Calafia Beach Pundit submits: Several months have passed since the Cash for Clunkers program caused a temporary surge in sales, which was then followed by a slump. The dust has settled, and what we now see is that car sales have jumped 20% since hitting a low last February. We see the same pattern in the Manheim index of used car prices, which has risen 20% since last December's low. These sure look like genuine, V-shaped recoveries to me.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Transportation Secretary Says to Stop Driving Recalled Toyotas Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the comment today to stop driving recalled Toyotas (TM). As the owner of General Motors, would it be too cynical to think that there is a small ulterior motive in being especially harsh on Toyota? Probably. These days, you can never be too cautious, and the government is just making sure it covers all of its tracks. At any rate, the conspiracy theorists will likely be all over this one. TM shareholders have been getting crushed lately. As shown below, the stock is down from $92 to $72 in just a couple of weeks. Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Greek Crisis Not Affecting Shipping Index Calafia Beach Pundit submits: Shipping activity continues to impress on the upside. TheHarpex indexof shipping costs (an index which focuses exclusively on container ships and is thus largely independent of the commodities market) is now up 45% from its all-time lows of late last year. How can concerns over a possible Greek default manage to derail the strong global economic momentum reflected in this index? I think the market is just suffering from another case of the heebie-jeebies.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Will Honda Challenge Toyota With New Plug-In Hybrid? TechCrunch submits: By Matt BurnsHonda (HMC) isn’t exactly the first Japanese car company that comes to mind when thinking about hybrids. Toyota (TM), thanks to its Prius and hybrid Lexus line-up, won the general populus a few years back, but Honda is set to make another run with the third generation of Honda Civic Hybrids along with a new line of electric vehicles.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
China’s Growth Leads to Problems Down the Road A nation on a building binge has plans to unclog the highways, but it may take years. nytimes.com |