| UPDATE 1-China Nov car sales up 0.29 pct on year-end promotions and Morgan Stanley's New Dance Step: The Electric Crawfish |
| News - Financial News |
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Car sales in China rose 0.29 percent in November from a year earlier, holding onto a mild rebound from a trough hit in May, as automakers used year-end promotions to lure customers back to showrooms. The momentum, deflated in the data by the year-ago base effect, is expected to pick up in December as automakers and dealers, struggling to meet their annual sales target, aggressively offer discounts and give-aways. "October was almost flat, but sales have been picking up gradually since the beginning of the month as rebates and other gimmicks kicked in," said Sheng Ye, associate research director at industry consultancy Ipsos' Greater China region. "Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Honda are more aggressive than the European or American players, as they try to recoup some of the lost sales in China because of the earthquake." Select models of Toyota Motor's Camry are priced at merely 162,000 yuan now, making a nearly 16 percent knockdown. [Read the full article] Ford Otomotiv Sanayi AS (FROTO), the Turkish unit of Ford Motor Co. (F) in partnership with Koc Holding AS (KCHOL), expects this year(TM)s van and truck production to rise 22 percent from 2010 to 295,000 units and sales 17 percent to 355,000. Ford Otosan, as the company is known, forecast this year(TM)s domestic sales at 142,000 units and exports at 213,000, it said in an investor presentation on its website today. The company expects to maintain its leadership in the Turkish market with a 15.9 percent share, after last year(TM)s 15.6 percent, it said. Ford Otosan(TM)s investment spending will almost quadraple to $214 million this year, according to the presentation. Ford Otomotiv Sanayi AS (FROTO), the Turkish unit of Ford Motor Co. (F) in partnership with Koc Holding AS (KCHOL), expects this year(TM)s van and truck production to rise 22 percent from 2010 to 295,000 units and sales 17 percent to 355,000. [Read the full article] NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Twenty-three out of 27 isn't bad. Leaders of 23 European countries agreed in principle to support a new treaty that would tie their economies closer together and shore up the euro, but Britain said it wasn't in on the accord. Hungary also failed to support the treaty, while Czech Republic and Sweden said they were undecided. Therefore, the 17 nations that use the euro plus six others will participate in what is being billed as an "inter-governmental agreement." "What was on offer is not in Britain's interest so I didn't agree to it," U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said. "We're not in the euro and I'm glad we're not in the euro," he said. "We're never going to join the euro and we're never going to give up this kind of sovereignty that these countries are having to give up." The inter-governmental agreement involves strict oversight over national budgets. The effort to save the euro comes as the eurozone struggles with a two-year debt crisis. [Read the full article] 
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