FirstAlert[tm] 8/19: We're All GM Workers Now

Aug 19, 2008 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- MDT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- August 19, 2008 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) Stocks ended down on Monday despite encouraging news about oil (down) and the greenback (up). It seems that fresh (bad) news about financials and housing still have the power to chill the blood of investors, even in August. We also hear that Smart finally lives up to its name, as GM revives a desperate marketing strategy. Fannie and Freddie were again in the news. Dilution of the GSE's shares are feared, following a report in Barron's that eyes an almost inevitable move by Treasury to take over of the giant mortgage funders. Treasury denies the rumors, according to BusinessWeek. Lehman Brothers' shares lost 7% amid swirling rumors that the firm may post a big loss for the third quarter. Other financial stocks took hits on Monday, including Bank of America, AIG, American Express and JP Morgan Chase. The National Association of Homebuilders' builder sentiment index is unchanged for August after posting a slight increase in July. Huge inventories and record foreclosure activity are causing builders to compete with price-slashed inventory, much of it bank-owned. Don't expect builders to be in a giddy mood anytime soon. Will oil prices fall below $100 per barrel before Labor Day? It's possible, now that the black goo is trading below $115 and falling. Tropical Storm Fay looks to be a no-show in the section of the Gulf of Mexico that contains the biggest concentration of oilfield assets. Of course, we have Russian tanks touring the Caucasus this summer, added to ongoing potential threats to the global oil market in the Middle East and elsewhere. So, who knows? Daimler must have mixed feelings about oil prices. The German automaker can only sigh as its SUVs sit idly on dealers' lots. But we can all raise a glass to Smart, Daimler's 10-year old micro car unit, and a continuing drain on the parent company. Until now. As BusinessWeek reports, Smart has seen its worldwide sales grow by 57% in 2008. According to analysts cited by BW, the division is expected to post operating earnings of around $75 million on sales of $1.5 billion. This includes revenues from a booming U.S. effort that has moved 14,000 of the wee cars in Amuurica. It seems like only yesterday that U.S. auto executives were guffawing at the news that Smart, which couldn't even catch on in Europe (har, har, har), was planning to debut in the U.S. Why, they weren't even going to offer a 4-wheel drive model. Times changed, and the laughter stopped. Indeed, executives at the Big 3 suffer a lot of anxiety these days. One of the 3 is hoping that a bit of nostalgia will do the trick. GM has dusted off its "employee pricing" promotion in the hope of stirring up some traffic at GM dealerships. You remember this artifact of the post 911 days: the company offers everyday Joes and Janes the same discount as GM employees. The problem is, who wants to relate to GM employees these days?

The Investrend Earnings Calendar features Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI), expected at $0.45; Concurrent Computer (NASDAQ: CCUR), expected at $0.12; Home Depot (NYSE: HD), expected at $0.61; Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), expected at $0.69.

The Investrend Events Calendar showcases BIOS, PHC, STKR, MSON, CTGX at Noble Financial Mad Max Equity Conf; CBC, PCBK, TCBK, IBNK, UCBH, TAYC at Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett, Inc. Community Bank Conf; SNPS, XLNX at Intel Developers Forum.

The Investrend Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ 50 Most Actives indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing. Last session's trading showed nine advancers versus 41 decliners. Advancers were led by Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) up 13.70%, Unionbancal Cp (NYSE: UB) up 11.74%. Decliners followed Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) down 24.96%, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) down 22.25%, Amylin Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: AMLN) down 13.01%, Sandisk Cp (NASDAQ: SNDK) down 10.20%, Huntington Bcshs (NASDAQ: HBAN) down 8.28%, Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) down 7.47%, Gen Motors (NYSE: GM) down 7.33%, Lehman Bros Hld (NYSE: LEH) down 7.05%, Amer Intl Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) down 6.05%, Sirius Xm Radio Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) down 6.04%.

Vote in the Investrend Poll Question of the Day at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).

Investrend Website of the Day: www.cdkitchen.com/foodholidays

Quote of the Day: "People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it." Ogden Nash

Today is: Aviation Day, Potato Day, Soft Ice Cream Day.

Happy Birthday: Madame du Barry, Orville Wright, Coco Chanel, Ogden Nash, Gene Roddenberry, Willie Shoemaker, Diana Muldaur, Ginger Baker, Jill St. John, Bill Clinton, Gerald McRaney, Tipper Gore, John Deacon, Jonathan Frakes, Peter Gallagher, Adam Arkin, John Stamos, Kyra Sedgwick, Lee Ann Womack, Matthew Perry.

Today in History: In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, were executed after being convicted of witchcraft. In the War of 1812, American frigate USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1812, earning her nickname "Old Ironsides". Jacque Daguerre presented his new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839. New York Herald broke the news in 1848 to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California, although the rush started in January. American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, was killed in 1895 by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas. The first All-American Soap Box Derby was held in Dayton, Ohio, in 1934. Cold War: In Moscow in 1960, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

[FirstAlert" was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com). The opinions expressed in FirstAlert" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]

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