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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (65836)	7/3/2005 12:23:16 AM
From: Moominoid	Respond to of 74559

Bust, Boom, Bust forecast: Message 21471603

To: TobagoJack who wrote (65836)	7/3/2005 12:40:54 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Senator Schumer is an interesting choice to carry the tarriff message. He's not the most junior Senator, or the lightest weight - but he is not a heavy important figure (he thinks he is though) and he has enough of a reputation for saying silly things. That can make him easy to refute if/when necessary. Now somebody as Heavy as former Senator Bob Dole or Sam Nunn would be very different, those are heavies. So would John McCain (military's favorite). That would be a serious warning. Senator Diane Feinstein is a special case, possibly the most pro-China Senator, being from San Francisco and also her husband's (Richard Blum) extensive dealings with China. So I think this was carefully calibrated message, not a complete fake performance for J6P, but something in between, with its' importance discussed behind closed doors, where you and I won't find out until long after. ******* Using powerful "post hoc" logic, this tariff thing comes up about 2-3 weeks after the Euro gets in big trouble, not just because of the votes, but becasue of the reactions, such as Germany's secret discussions of leaving and that amazing Italian proposal to bring back the lira and run dual currencies for a while. Italy needs much tighter drug laws. So this could be 1) the US Dollar block negotiating a better position now that the Euro is less viable as a long term store of value. Or 2) this could be part of some pre-positioning of a RMB-USD axis to take over and/or intervene if the Euro blows up badly. I am now starting to lean toward 2), since I can't see how the USD gets a better position. Maybe money goes from Euros to RMBs then gets loaned back to Europe (China and Japan buy their bonds) to help lower European interest rates - see that Sweden just cut their rates. This avoids money pushing up the value of the USD - which is happning now - which could cause a repeat of the 1998 Asia currency crisis - too many USD loans in Asia, and as the USD went higher, it becmes harder to pay those down... The standard script has the value of the USD dropping vs. the RMB and JPN. That's not happening - USD is stronger.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (65836)	7/3/2005 5:37:31 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Car price war! GM Sales Up 41% in June With Discount DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said it will match GM's offer, starting Wednesday. Ford Motor Co. said it would not, even though its sales declined in June. GM Sales Up 41% in June With Discount By Dee-Ann Durbin Associated Press Saturday, July 2, 2005; Page D01 DETROIT, July 1 -- General Motors Corp. said Friday that sales rose 41 percent in June to their highest monthly total in nearly 19 years. A heavily promoted discount allowed customers to buy cars and trucks at the employee rate. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said it will match GM's offer, starting Wednesday. Ford Motor Co. said it would not, even though its sales declined in June. General Motors offered all customers its employee discount during June. (By Darron Cummings -- Associated Press) From The Post's Print Edition All of Today's Business Articles Today's Business Front Image Free E-mail Newsletters TechNews Daily Report See a Sample \| Sign Up Now Personal Finance See a Sample \| Sign Up Now Personal Tech See a Sample \| Sign Up Now Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. all posted their best June sales periods ever in the United States. South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said June was its best single month on record. Chrysler Group said sales were up 1 percent in June and 4 percent in the second quarter. It was the company's seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases. GM, the world's biggest automaker, said June was its best month since September 1986. Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis, said the company will announce soon whether it plans to continue the far-reaching discount, which began June 1 and is scheduled to end Tuesday. The boom was driven by record truck sales, which increased 69 percent. The Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup led the industry as its sales more than doubled, GM said. "We see this as an indication that America's desire for trucks and SUVs is still a strong force in the marketplace," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American marketing. Ballew said GM attracted roughly 150,000 new customers in June. They typically bought vehicles for an average of $400 to $500 less than they paid in May, he said. GM sales for the first six months of the year rose 2.5 percent. Its truck sales rose 6 percent; car sales fell 3 percent. Ford said its domestic sales fell 2.5 percent in June from a year ago and dropped 4.3 percent for the first six months of the year despite hits like the sporty Mustang and growing sales of its crossover vehicles. Ford's top sales analyst, George Pipas, said the automaker considered matching GM at the beginning of June but decided to stick with its sales strategy. Ford began offering $1,000 last month to employees who persuaded friends and relatives to buy a Ford. That deal runs through Sept. 30. Pipas acknowledged GM's program was a huge success but said attracting buyers after the promotion will be more difficult. "The interesting thing about a clear, compelling message is that it's a clear, compelling message," Pipas said. "Customers know when it's on and when it's off." Chrysler's sales rose 5 percent for the first six months of the year. Gary Dilts, senior vice president of sales, said Chrysler decided to match GM's offer because customers were attracted to its simplicity. Toyota reported its best-ever June on a 10 percent sales increase, with sales up 11.6 percent for the first six months. Nissan's sales increased 14.2 percent on the month and are up 15.5 percent for the first half. Honda's sales rose 4.7 percent in June, contributing to a 1.5 percent gain for the year to date. Hyundai said it set an all-time sales record, with truck sales up 35 percent. Hyundai's car sales were down 11.5 percent, but the company's overall sales were up 10.2 percent for the January-June period.