The Rasmussen Consumer Confidence Index, rose to its highest reading so far this year on Wednesday. At 79.9, the index is now at its highest level since just a few days after the Lehman Brothers collapse -- which many analysts mark as the start of last year's financial crisis. The consumer index (which is refreshed daily) is now up 20 points from the start of 2009. The Rasmussen Investor Index, also spiked up two points on Wednesday. The investor confidence guage is now up 23 points from the beginning of the year.
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The consumer reading is more evidence that Q3 GDP growth will likely be much stronger than most economists expect or are currently predicting. (The big upside of the "V" is climbing well.)
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General Motors Co. came close to regaining the top spot from Toyota Motor Corp. in a shrinking global auto market during the first half. GM, which trailed Toyota by more than 274,000 units after the first half of 2008, was behind by about 11,000 units through the first six months of this year. GM's sales fell 21.8 percent vs. Toyota's 26 percent. (hummm, makes me think. GM on a come back even after all their plants were down and going through Bankruptcy.......and they still made up huge ground. Sounds like good news to me.......but the main stream media don't mention a thing. hummm makes me think. eh?)
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DJIA up again.........120+ yesterday.......signaling even more confidence and shoring up the 201K back to 401K territory. Yehaw, ride the wave baby. On the come back trail.
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The popular "Cash for Clunkers" program, which recently received Congressional approval for another $2 billion in funds, marked a pivotal turning point in the evolution of bailouts: It made politicians realize bailouts are fine, as long as voters get a piece of the pork too. Or, as the saying goes, "I want either less corruption or more opportunity to participate in it." (Just more good news)
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The LIBOR interest rate dropped again.....down to .270% wow. (just more good.)
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NEW YORK -Stock futures are sharply higher Thursday, a day after investors welcomed upbeat comments from the Federal Reserve. With the Fed reinforcing beliefs that the economy is stabilizing, investors will look for further clues about the nation's recovery Thursday when the government releases data on jobless claims and retail sales. Overseas, Asian markets rose after the Fed signaled the world's largest economy was improving, while European markets have been boosted by new data showing recessions have ended in Germany and France. In the U.S., a new retail sales report is expected to show consumers boosted their spending in July, helped by the popular Cash for Clunkers auto trade-in program. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect retail sales increased 0.7 percent in July after a 0.6 percent increase in June. (There ya have it........Things just keep getting better.)
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DETROIT -- The new Camaro sports coupe and the redesigned Equinox SUV could help propel the Chevrolet brand to its first year-over-year sales increase since January 2008, General Motors Co.'s top U.S. sales executive says. Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. sales, told Automotive News on Tuesday that Chevrolet could see its sales increase sometime in the fourth quarter because of increased demand for the two new products. Both generated strong July sales. (All Good)
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The Chevrolet Volt's eye-popping 230 miles per gallon city fuel economy estimate will bring a lot of people into showrooms, The Detroit News reports. But what does it mean behind the wheel? General Motors Co. says its extended-range vehicle will free most drivers from hardly ever using gasoline, given the car's ability to travel up to 40 miles on battery power alone. It doesn't mean, however, that the Volt -- which goes on sale next year -- will literally make a 230-mile trip on a single gallon of gasoline. GM, which has a lot riding on the success of its first plug-in car, says the 230 mpg figure means that during 100 miles of city driving, the Volt would use less than a half-gallon of gasoline and 25 kilowatts of electricity. To get to that figure, the testing procedure assumes more than one full battery charge, and that city drivers are traveling significantly fewer than 100 miles a day. (Just more great stuff from GM....GM=Great Momentum)
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TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. President Jim Lentz admits what many industry watchers and fans have been saying for the last two years: The current Scion xB isn’t very exciting.“I think it lost a little bit of its edge,” Lentz tells media at the 2009 Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars here. “It lost some of its fun-to-drive characteristic. “(If we could) do things over again, we would (add) a little bit of fun-to-drive back to that vehicle.” Too much of the xB was “influenced in Japan,” he adds, and not enough from America, even though the Scion brand, barring Guam and Puerto Rico, is sold solely in the U.S. Toyota’s FJ Cruiser, 4Runner and Lexus GX body-on-frame midsize SUVs have seen significant volume losses this year. Ward’s Middle SUV group, where the first two models are placed, saw a 58.8% drop through July, the largest volume decline of any segment this year. “The question becomes do we pull out of segments or do we refine our offering,” and not have as many SUVs to cover three segments. (humm, I wonder if our congress and President are getting this message.....that maybe the Japanese are not building cars people want to buy. I wonder if the American media will start to say the negative things about Toyota like they have skewered the American brands for so many years. Perhaps America is starting to take note.... that, just maybe..........it is time to come home to the Great American cars that are better as per JD Power, back to GM and Chrysler and protect our countries capital and re circulate our money inside our own country. Eh?.....I think so)
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TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The outlook for the U.S. auto industry “has improved dramatically” says Rod Lache, managing director of North American Equity Research for Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. His crystal ball indicates slimmed-down General Motors Co. may turn a profit by 2011. In fact, Lache says auto makers as well as suppliers might become profitable sooner than expected, “mainly because they’ve taken out capacity” during the downturn. Reducing the U.S. dealer body from 20,000 in 2008 to a forecast 16,000 by 2011 “also should have a significant impact on the profitability of remaining dealers,” helped in part by firmer pricing, he adds. (Sounds like more economists are on board for the recovery and growth of the Auto sector)
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Quote for the day:
"Pull together as one, learn from each other and never let a teammate fail."
-Rebecca Johnson
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Everyone.......have a wonderful day.
sy
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