Blog Category Results

AR Index     663.56  +28.25  (+4.45%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  80.20  +1.08 GM        0.64    +0.06 Ford      8.71    +0.53 Dow 10406.96  +180.02   (+1.76%) Lots of green this week as everything is up and the news seems good. Somehow they're even calling a $1.2 billion loss at GM in less than a quarter a positive sign. (I'll believe we're getting our money back when I see it) The only place I'm seeing red, and it's a good red, is that prices at the pump eased again as the speculators were unable to have their way, although as the three recent bumps in the graph show, that have been trying!

AR Index     635.31  +27.34  (+4.50%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  79.12  +0.00 GM        0.58    +0.03 Ford      8.18   +0.60 Dow 10226.94  +437.50   (+4.47%) I'm still slightly amazed that Ford really has been the driving force in the AR Index right from when I started to record things back in April 2008. There were many things I half-expected to see once enough data was recorded, but this really wasn't one of them. I suppose the next big test for Ford will be whether they can weather the hissy fit the UAW just threw when they rejected the contract changes.

How appropriate that on election we have a story about how the US Treasury is considering options for divesting itself of our stake in the auto industry. One of the options it is focuing on is on a series of public offering. Taxpayers have sunk more than $50 billion in bailout and bankruptcy financing in GM and more than $14 billion in Chrysler this year...

Daniel Howes' column in the Detroit News nails it in his opening paragraph. Old Detroit lives! Here, in the week before Ford Motor Co...

 AR Index     613.08  +1.46  (+0.24%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  80.31  +1.38 GM        0.65    -0.05 Ford      7.57   -0.05 Dow 10092.19  +206.39   (+2.09%) According to freep.com, Ford might show a 3rd quarter profit, if analysts at JP Morgan are correct. They say Ford is benefitting from an increase in Ford F-150 pickup sales, reduced incentive spending and a surge in sales sparked by the federal government's cash-for-clunkers program. So while this seems to be good news, I think we have to wait for the Cash For Clunkers effect to wear off before we'll get a truer picture of how things are

AR Index     611.62  +39.17  (+6.84%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  78.93  +3.86 GM        0.70    +0.06 Ford      7.62   +0.57 Dow 9885.80  +286.05   (+2.98%)  The year-to-date chart is looking like things are moving in the right direction doesn't it? Not bad considering the anchor being dragged along that is GM.

AR Index     572.45  -39.10  (-6.39%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  75.07  -5.56 GM        0.64    -0.07 Ford      7.05   -0.44 Dow 9599.75  -189.61   (-1.94%) So you wonder why the "imports" (you can hardly call them that anymore) are so attractive to people? Check out "Saturn and Me: GM Loses a Customer" by Allan Sloan in the Washington Post. Once a customer loses trust in a brand, it's very difficult to get it back, and GM has managed to do that with so many customers who used to be loyal buyers that it's hard to envision them regaining even a shred of their former status in the automotive world.

AR Index     611.54  +21.94  (+3.72%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  80.63  -2.06 GM        0.71    -0.05 Ford      7.49   +0.66 Dow 9789.36  +10.50   (+0.11%) First the "or not"... What a shock. They're talking about September auto sales being way down again...

AR Index     589.60  -26.43  (-4.29%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  82.69  -0.42 GM        0.76      0.00 Ford      6.83    -0.56 Dow 9778.86  +152.06   (+1.58%) Another slight drop at the pump this week, although oil and gas prices pretty much seem to have disconnected from reality... which reminds me, Dub Schwartz informs me he's got a doozie of a reality disconnect story to relate to us on Saturday.

AR Index     620.92  -12.01  (-1.90%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  83.90  -1.29 GM        0.79    -0.01 Ford      7.43    -0.17 Dow 9441.27  -55.01   (-0.58%) Just looking at positive/negative weeks for the Index in 2009 so far. Not a horrible looking chart even though it would be nice to see everything above the zero line, but as they say, you can't have everything... where would you keep it all??