Dubai…Market Update…Auto Sales
Posted by admin on December 1st, 2009
There is uneasiness in the air, and that’s to be expected. Everyday something weird happens, it can be little things or it can be mysterious things like Dubai. Investors have been made to sweat, and yet through it all, another strong month goes into the books for the stock market. For all the periodic air pockets and pauses, stocks enjoyed their best month since June. However, toward the end of the month the market was clearly range-bound. After making a series of higher lows, the market hasn’t been able to generate the kind of momentum needed to breakout. The drag on the market has been financials, which led the parade until October when all of a sudden a deep freeze hit the sector. Yesterday, banks were up significantly after Abu Dhabi said that it would help Dubai World reorganize $26 billion in debt. The banks don’t have to be in front of the parade for the broad market to rally but it certainly can’t be an anchor.
An article in the Wall Street Journal today says to look for a spike in unemployment in the construction space as stimulus money for that niche of the economy is running out. According to the Association of General Contractors of America, the industry only received $27 billion of the $787 billion stimulus plan. Unemployment among construction workers is 19.1%, up from 10.7% a year ago, as 1.5 million have lost their job since the recession began. Remember, this article says that the economics in this sector should get worse. I agree with it.
It’s amazing how all of the major network stations can’t seem to get off the Tiger Woods story. As I would expect, many advertisers are standing by Tiger Woods, with Nike among those issuing public statements. The best statement is from Accenture, which is running an ad on the WSJ website that reads: “the road to perfection isn’t always paved” and pictures Tiger walking uphill. No word on if his wife was chasing him in the background…with an 8-iron that is.
November auto sales are beginning to roll in and so far, the numbers have left a little to be desired. Ford’s numbers were flat year over year, but it did improve its market share for the thirteenth time out of the past fourteen months. However, the momentum from the past few months (post cash for clunkers) has seemed to have run out. The Street was looking for sales to increase 8.5%, and the result came up short. This just shows that central governments can’t spend their way to prosperity.
-Samir