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At 10 M unit sales per year, all car companies are just about in the same boat.
Pontiac looks like it is going bye bye. The Vibe was their only small SUV offering and I read in newspaper today that it made jointly by Toyota. Not much value to consumer being generated there.
I had a friend who actually represented himself successfully in a lemon law case against Nissan over a defective Titan with power train problems. I NJ, it is pretty much 3 strikes and your out for the car companies if they can't fix your problem.
I must have signed 30 different papers yesterday before I was done purchasing car. It took almost 2 hours and I was a internet buyer who just called in and said I'll take that one.
No wonder car sales are off so much.
Toyota dealer gave me sales literature of RAV4 vs Equinox and CRV. Toyota salesperson got suddenly quiet when I asked advantages RAV4 against Hyundai Tucson.
Her silence spoke volumes.
Got 3 months of Howard Stern and 30 minutes of Onstar satellite phone service free.
I was first person this week to purchase a car. They begged me to drive it away today but I didn't have means to get my other car home.
I asked if they needed the money to meet payroll but they claimed they didn't want to pay finance costs on the car for another 4 days.
Car was purchased from GM in Sept.(210 days ago) by another dealer who traded it with this dealer recently. It was $900 less dealer cost then more recent trucks with latest price increase. That amounts about to the cost of power mirrors, door locks and windows which is only option besides AC and AT.
Sales tax was $1700 which I will apply as tax credit next April on federal return.
That makes it almost $8,500 off list price sale with GM family and friends pricing and sales tax credit. If one knows the name, address and birth date of a GM employee one can order employee discount certificate off the web with no questions asked.
I would have paid over $23,000 for RAV4 with 4 cylinders which was my favorite car with nice selection with cute features.
Hyundai Elantra Touring was the best bang for the buck at $18,500 which was fully loaded and had lots of interior room.
Hyundai under the hood design wide is a lot different then lets say Toyota.
Quality wise there are up there with the best.
I couldn't buy a Hyundia for same price and the Hyundia has the technological level under the hood comparable to my riding mover.
Citibank cancelled my Drivers Edge card prematurely to try and weasel out on the rebates I earned.
The dealer said if I had existing lease it would be worth another $2,500 off.
Making a trade today
Buying new Silverrado 1500 crew cab for $18,900 net.
List pirc is $25,700. Sales tax will be a tax credit and I getting $ 500 tax donation for giving up my old truck to Salvation army.
I not holding out any hope for more money via cash for clunkers program
Graduate from a ivy league school and you can't find a job.
Dear Fellow Columbian,
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We retrace most of move in BKX
If GS CFO says be cautious, one should be cautious since they bet right on just about move in last two years and they still invested primarily in cash
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Goldman-CFO-still-cautious-apf-14919675.html
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s chief financial officer David Viniar said Tuesday the bank remains cautious about the financial sector in the near term, despite reporting a first-quarter profit that easily surpassed expectations.
In a conference call with investors, Viniar said there are still "headwinds" in the broader sector tied to declining asset values.
RE 3800 V-6
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-recalling-15M-vehicles-apf-14915114.html
GM new marketing plan seems to involve offering a special recall just about any 6 to 9 year old car whose replacement new car could be made with low loss per car to keep factories open.
I assume the recall letter will offer a small rebate on purchase of new car. Pontiac offered a small rebate as part of special recall on the late 90's Sunfire which had defective head gasket on their aluminum block engines.
I owned a 1996 Sunfire and didn't get the rebate letter since my Sunfire head gasket failed 2 months after purchase and they thought I was good to go. My replacement head gasket failed after 4 years and 40K miles and car had to be abandoned to charity donation of $1,800 since warranty was only 3 years 36,000 miles.
My wife just donated Friday to Salvation Army my mother in laws 1997 Buick Regal and at 79 years old she is looking for new car. So no rebate for my mother-in-law unless they do not require any documentation.
Sometime soon the FED is going to have to take back some of money thrown at the banks.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/fredgraph?chart_type=line&s[1][id]=CURRCIR&s[1][range]=10yrs
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/fredgraph?chart_type=line&s[1][id]=TREASURY&s[1][range]=5yrs
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/fredgraph?chart_type=line&s[1][id]=NONBORTAF&s[1][range]=10yrs
I expect BAC to follow GS and WF lead and report better then expected numbers early to goose market for another day or two more.
If lowest mortgage rates in 43 years don't pump BAC's Countrywide division earnings, then they have big problems.
RE Citigroup
I got letter stating if I didn't reply by May 15 in writing regarding desire to transfer brokerage accounts, I would charged undisclosed transfer fee.
How does it work in cruise control mode. Does it still downshift or does it start to drive smoother when your foot is not involved in the process.
Conversely, I noticed on declines newer transmissions sense the lesser need for torque and go to highest gear and engine RPMs drop to near idling speeds. In the old days, automatic transmissions could be relied upon to act as a brake on downhills drastically cutting into fuel economy.
BKX looks like 30 resistance even distribution.
IBM AAPL RIMM stock price up sharply which is where rally stems from.
The trouble was,is and for as far as one can see will be banks.
Suspension of mark to market just doesn't change the fact that their toxic assets are suspect and valuation of them is still problematic.
RE Commercial RE
On the top of my head, I can see of 2 maybe 3 big NYC area projects getting s-canned this month.
- Xanadu construction stopped in the NJ meadowlands which is about 80% complete sans retail tenants; an indoor ski slope 3 miles from NYC seriously guys.
- Brooklyn Yards arena project in NYC for NJ Nets and related office towers; it was a long shot in the first place. NJ Congressional delegation fighting Barlay's naming rights to proposed arena since they are taking tarp funds. I see Shaq finishing out his career with Nets when they move to Prudential Center in his boyhood home Newark.
- I don't see much steel going up at WTC site but they will not let that go fallow so quickly
Well it's starting right now perhaps Futures weak
Month Last Change Prior
Settle Open High Low Volume Updated
Jun 2009
783.50 -11.25 794.75 790.50 791.50 781.75 36332 7:08:28 PM CST
It looks like to me trading down 4% since 3PM.
I would expect by Thursday G20 summit news should generate a bounce above 800.
I raised 5 heirloom tomato plants varities from seed last year and gave most of them to friends to see what worked well. The feedback was so good that I had a greenhouse grow out 250 plants for me this year at about 30 cents per plant as part of larger plant sale at church.
Market going to hang in there until first earnings reports for 1Q. By week of Apr 13, most of the gains of this wicked upside move will be picked clean like the chipminks did to my cherry tomato plants on the deck last year.
Switching topics from steel to "cloud computing"
Does anyone can describe in layman's terms what SUN line of business really is.
I guess IBM will do a better job of selling their solutions and managing costs.
60% sales outside US and 40% services vs hardware breakdown means there not too much differences as compared to IBM.
The traps are pretty flimsy.
Not like the Haveahart brand that are twice the price but at least will last for 20-30 years.
Is it just coincidence that AIG credit default payments to GS $11 B almost equal to GS bonus payments to its execs $ 13 B.
A major reason why AIG was able to make good on it's very bad bets is because of Paulson writing big IOUs to AIG. That money must have looked like found money to GS and not much justification needed to pass it on as bonuses.
Market going go for the gusto on the rebound until early April before any "sell the earnings news" could kick in.
OT I got 2 traps from tractor supply to go to get ready to put some varmits into forced relocation program before I put out my tomato plants out late in April.
I know I am goings to get some squirrels, racoons and groundhogs. Outside chance I will get possum or skunks. I can always FEDEX some to you if your longing for more wildlife <g>
Gasoline still trending upwards.
Demand is soft but refinery utilization is softer hence the rise in prices.
I was counting trailer trucks on way home at 6 PM when most long haul truckers would be on the road heading to PA or to NYC in other direction. I passed a total of 4 trucks in 20 miles at a speed differential of 5-6 MPH compared to right 2 lanes. I am talking about less then 1 truck on the highway per mile.
Opposing traffic closing at over 130 MPH, I spotted less then 2 per minute or less then 1 truck per mile.
Man is economy soft
PS my home UPS deliveries, usually after 4 PM as a residence are coming in the morning now.
http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equity-index/us-index/e-mini-sandp500.html
Mar 2009 687.75
Jun 2009 684.75
Sep 2009 682.5
Contango is defined as far delivery months is higher then nearer month. Opposite of contango is inverted market or backwardation.
Normally this is seen in food commodities where there is some supply disruption like weather but in this case best way of explaining this is that one needs a discount in order to accept equities at a future date assuming more market losses to come.
http://en.mimi.hu/stockmarket/inverted_market.html
Also known as an Inverted Market. The opposite of Contango. [NYMEX] bad debt reserve A reserve account maintained by thrift institutions and used to offset losses from foreclosed or uncollectable loans.
Inverted market premium payback period Also called break-even time, the time it takes to recover the premium per share of a convertible security.
State UI offices can only process a finite number of claims in a week so some people have been pushed in to later time periods as they wait in line.
it is odd to see Jun S&P futures selling at a discount to Mar as if vs time prices only going in one direction down
If you were compulsive about stocks as saving money, every penny saved in this time frame would be going into equities. When a Burger King whopper is worth 2 shares of Citibank, it is time to be scaling into financials and walking away form excess expenses.
all the banks have become government's bitches.
SOme who dislike Obama call him a "big mac daddy" already
BAC being the favorite bitch of the Obama administration just means life is less bad in a bad situation.
I do not have solar panels but I need to put a new roof soon and I been reviewing details since the 30% credit was proposed.
There are less then 10,000 homeowners in the state with residential solar and payback still looks like a bitch.
Market is selling hard off Obamas speech.
In my experience, the time period between March and May has been toughest during recessions due to fact it is hard to make money and a lot of tax bills come due.
My thinking this quarter and next look as bad as 4Q08.
don't produce nearly as much heat.
Besides light bulbs, LCD monitors are astounding on energy efficiency compared to CRT monitors about 25W used and thus reduced cooling requirements in summertime.
A CRT monitor uses about 70W when on. We are talking about 45 W per hour difference or 360 watts per 8 hour day or 126 KWH per year or $18 power savings. A new LCD monitor is $110. We are talking about 5 years max payback which is actually less if you count reduced AC bill in summertime.
With boys, time in the bathroom is about 15 seconds tops. You save a little on hot water too. <g>
I agree with on payback requires lights being on 3-4 hours a day to make it reasonable payback.
I have basement office lit with 12 4' fluorescent bulbs I replaced 40 watt bulbs with 34 watt energy savings bulbs about 10 years ago as they failed.
Since then as the ballasts fail, I have been replacing them with T8 versions which use 28 W bulbs. The ballasts cost about $20 so with about 2000 hrs use per year I can't justify pulling out working ones just to save 24 KWH per year or $3.40 for one dual light fixture.
As we are talking about energy savings, solar energy in NJ is getting very close to reasonable rate of return on investment as the concept of SREC payments from utilities make payback on investment very quick on top of federal 30% and state $1.55 per watt rebates.
http://www.njcleanenergy.com/files/file/Press%20Releases/REIPLaunchfeb2009.pdf
Latest prices on SREC payments are about $550 per MKWH. However, they still are AIG, Lehman type of potential reveune streams.
30% credit up to $1,500 credit for new windows
http://www.andersenwindows.com/servlet/Satellite/AW/Page/awGeneral-3/1143432022798
better link for looking up HR1 provision
http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d111/d111laws.html
clink on house bills
RE GE $1 B for them in just one line item in HR 1
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS136948+28-Feb-2008+BW20080228
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111vRqaEr:e106202:
aviation security
For an additional amount for `Aviation Security', $1,000,000,000 for procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment: Provided, That the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) shall prioritize the award of these funds to accelerate the installations at locations with completed design plans: Provided further, That no later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives a plan for the expenditure of these funds.
If Japan is the model we are resembling, look at what combined-merged-reconstituted-screened through the good bank bad bank model bank balance sheet is going to look like going forward on pg 41
http://www.mufg.jp/english/ir/annualreport/2001mtfg/pdffile/annu_mtfg2001.pdf
Briefly, the derivative, math function not financial, of 1/x as it goes to infinity does not go to zero so the 2 dimensional line that forms the surface of revolution creates an infinite surface area since there is no end to the end of the paint can.
However, if you determine the volume in three dimensions of that 1/x function, the volume calculation has the factor 1 over x squared which does go to zero as you approach infinity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_of_revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Horn
PS spam email is out of control. I had 750 spam emails today.
BKX chart approching zero vs time reminds of my HS calculus class
Teacher asked me a question what is the description of a paint can with finite volume and infinite surface area.
I got the question right and we didn't have google or wikapedia back then <g>
I only got one story RE reinflating assets
My father was an accountant who started investing before 1929 and died in 1997 and was extremely savvy when it came to economy and investing. Otherwise he did not have much to say.
In the midst of RTC housing collapse of late 80's, we had just left a family reunion in Brooklyn and he stated he would take us one tour of all the houses he lived in Brooklyn growing up.
It seems like a odd journey but my brother and sister were in back seat and we were not in a position to object.
His tour started on the Brooklyn waterfront across from lower Manhattan and I don't remember all the houses and apartment buildings he pointed out but one statement has stayed vividly in my memory as dad intended it to be.
As he pointed across the street to 3 story apartment building, "this is the building my father put a offer in on in 1931 but the bank wouldn't lower the price and he didn't get to buy it until 1941".
We are just waiting for housing to bottom and stock market real estate prices will appreciate for a sustained period of time at a rate beyond any mild inflation we can expect.
Only question is when
The implication is if I live long enough DOW will revisit 40X the price of gold as it did before Nixon took us off gold standard in early 70's and at Y2K.
Are Obama/Geithner/GS the guys to find a way to reflate other asset classes at the expense of gold al la Ronald Reagan/ Donald Regan 401K wrestling tag team partnership. I couldn't resist since Mickey Rourke is everywhere now.
DOW 40,000 here we come in about 20 years.
Geithner's got to kick out the jams MF'ers
RE GE
Something tells me that stimulus package can't be a bad thing for GE. It is up 14% today.
GE is a financial institution with a manufacturing arm. Punished like a bank in these times of crisis
I would have to believe we hold 800 again unless economic picture changes again.
OT Springsteen was gassed about halfway through performance. He kept calling for Stevie as backup because he couldn't deliver the goods.
Maybe he needs to look for some inspiration from a real old timer Tom Jones whose latest single is "I'm alive". Tom put a springsteen song on his latest album.
He touring again and my wife been buying tickets for any performances in the area. My only vague interest is to see if he still packing the goods in the left leg of his leather pants.
AFC winner foreshadows down market 80%
http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/superbowl.asp
PS They'll pass you by, glory days
how prophetic