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March vehicle sales came in a bit less than expected (13.06 mil. vs. 13.25), but they are still up by a robust 11.4% relatively to year-ago sales, and have risen at a 25% annualized rate over the past six months. Since hitting their recession low in Feb. '09, vehicle sales have soared 40%, marking what is truly a V-shaped recovery.
4 comments:
Good news seems to becoming more prevalent in all things economic. Glad to see it--but this is still a sluggish recover, in general. Especially in real estate.
The CPI is up 2.1 percent over the last 12 months, in a era when we should be shooting for three percent to four percent--Bernanke needs to consider QE3. (And some say the CPi overstates true inflation).
I would like to see a roaring bull, before we retreat from QE3. Martin Feldstein seems to think when QE2 ends, we get a bear market, 20 percent downdraft. The last thing we need now is a bear market--investors might start think of the Dow Jones as the Nikkei Dow, leading to a perma-bear, ala Japan.
The DJIA is about where it was in 1999. Why invest in stocks? We need a long sustained rally into new all-time highs to bring back American optimism.
GM and Ford are selling more cars and trucks with fewer price reducing sales promotions. Margins are good and thus so is profitability. The operating leverage in Ford and GM is huge. If the cars continue to sell for several more quarters the upside in Ford & GM could be well above the overall market. There is downside risk should they stumble but for those who have an aggressive bent, these two are interesting. Be sure you do your homework before doing anything.
John-
Ford, in particular, seems to be coming out with great product. Some say the Ford F-150 pick-up truck is the best p/u of all time.
Meanwhile, the Lincoln MKZ is a luxury car that gets 40 mpg! (Hybrid).
Imagine traveling in luxury and getting 40 mpg.
Ford, as I am sure you know, did not receive federal bail-out. Interesting.
http://www.subprimenews.com/spn/news/story.html?id=1795&wt.mc_id=Email-SPNU&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.subprimenews.com%2fspn%2fnews%2fstory.html%3fid%3d1795%26wt.mc_id%3dEmail-SPNU&utm_campaign=Spike+in+Subprime+Approval
sorry, the auto recovery is built on credit criminals being bought again by underwriters who graduated from Harvard and Yale..The same ones who couldn't see a bubble right in front of them..The day are finance markets are being run by people instead of ivy league kids with a silver spoon in their mouth and straw in their heads we will be better off..
As a ABS paper buyer...the auto rise is not something to be all giddy about...its ugly paper that will lead to more repos down the road....
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