Ford Motor (F) has revealed its plan to invest R$4 billion ($2.26 billion) in order to benefit from government tax incentives and lower interest rates in Brazil that are fueling record sales. Presently, Ford is the fourth-largest automaker in the country. Ford has decided to spend R$2.8 billion at the Camacari plant -- a state-of-the-art plant in the northeastern state of Bahiato -- with the aim of increasing output by 20% to 300,000 vehicles a year. The plant produces the sport utility vehicle EcoSport and the Fiesta subcompact. The investment is expected to generate 1,000 jobs in the region. The remaining R$1.2 billion will be invested at Ford's factories in Sao Paulo including its Sao Bernardo plant and a testing facility in Tatui. So far, car sales in Brazil have been significantly helped by government tax incentives that lowered car prices and lured consumers to showrooms. ...

The Consumer Price Index, or CPI rose 0.2% in September, down from a 0.4% increase in August and down 1.3% from a year ago. If food and energy prices are stripped out to get to core inflation, prices also rose 0.2%, up from 0.1% in August. Core inflation is up 1.5% from a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, those numbers are likely to flip in the coming months. Food prices actually declined slightly for the month, with a 0.1% decline in September reversing a 0.1% increase in August, and unchanged from a year ago. In particular, the price for food at home fell 0.3% in September after being unchanged in August. On a year-over-year basis, prices at the grocery stores are down 2.5%. This is not good news for firms like Kroger's (KR) and Supervalu (SVU). It is energy that is the big difference between ...

Several local news outlets are reporting that car dealers are experiencing a post-Cash for Clunkers Slump in sales. There is concern that the government's incentive program took sales away from the fall (and even 2010) by giving consumers reason to purchase new vehicles over the summer instead.

It is definitely taking sales away from September. Edmunds.com calculates that September sales are running at an 8.8 million unit pace. To put this number in perspective, Edmunds Senior Statistician Zhenwei Zhou said sales last September were 12.5 million. He also added "it had been over 16 million for years".

Whether this month's slump continues throughout the remainder of this year and into 2010 remains to be seen. Many carmakers are expected to introduce new incentive programs in addition to rolling out new models. Plus, two of the best-selling cars over the past several years - the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord

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Trading legend Dennis Gartman is one of the most influential market commentators out there. He is what we like to call here at Notes an “investor’s investor.” That is, he’s a market veteran who speaks directly to other traders and investors.

He is best known for his daily newsletter, The Gartman Letter, which is read with morning coffees by countless Wall Street operators. In short, Gartman is an underground investor par excellence. Gartman recently gave an interview with Canada’s The Globe and Mail. In it, he reveals his stance on the inflation/deflation argument and how to best hedge against an inflationary outcome.

Gartman is not your typical inflation hawk. He sees deflation and inflation taking hold in the future: inflation in raw materials prices “sooner rather than later” and deflation in wages. When asked, “Will we have inflation or deflation?” his answer is “Yes.”

For those who want to hedge against inflation, however, Gartman has perhaps the

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Due to the weak economy, Americans are resorting to keeping their vehicles longer, leaving automakers like General Motors [GM: 1.45, 0.00 (0.00%)] and Ford [F: 5.41, 0.00 (0.00%)] struggling with new car sales. One statistic shows that the average age of vehicles has increased by over 40 percent since the 1960s in the United States, while Americans’ incomes have increased more than new car prices over the same time period. This being said, many people who keep their older cars have to maintain them by going to auto parts stores to purchase necessities such as new batteries or alternators. One of the industry leaders is AutoZone, Inc. [AZO: 157.10, 0.00 (0.00%)], which is shown in their stock price in the

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The following interesting snippet comes courtesy of Bespoke:

“The Manheim US Used Vehicle Value Index, which measures wholesale used vehicle prices, was up 8.27% in the first quarter of 2009.  As shown in the first chart below, this is the biggest quarterly increase in the history of the index going back to 1995.

“Manheim gives the following reasoning for the spike in used car prices on its website: ‘The strength in auction pricing has been the result of the reduced supply that is normally generated by trade-ins on new vehicle sales, the substitution effect from new to used vehicle purchases, a strong tax refund season, and some easing in the availability of retail financing. The supply reduction caused by the unprecedented steepness at which new vehicle sales have fallen will have long-term effects as well as the immediate impacts being noticed

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Light vehicles sold in the U.S. last month were down 37% from March 2008, whereas February sales had been 41% below year-earlier values. Does a February-to-March increase and smaller year-over-year drop mean that we've turned the corner?

Data source: Wardsauto.com

I think not. Although Americans bought 168,000 more light vehicles in March than in February, the average February-to-March gain over the last five years has been 247,000 additional units. The main reason that the March '08 to March '09 comparison sounds like an improvement over February '08 to February '09 is that March '08 was the beginning of the big downturn in auto sales. From that fact alone, we should continue to see improving year-over-year comparisons in subsequent months, particularly for domestically manufactured light trucks, the segment hit hardest by last spring and summer's gasoline price spike.

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Another inflation article.

For those of you who are my regular readers, you already know I harp on inflation alot. Its like a never ending story.

The reason I keep writing about it, is because the average person doesnt really know what it is, and if you dont know what it is, there is no way to understand why fiat money sucks (see, steal from the common man and give the money to government and banksters), and why gold and silver backed systems of money are honest.

I ran across an interesting comment by a poster on a highly trafficked financial message board:

“Listening to 40’s music on XM and they had the news for January 10, 1941 on. A loaf of bread 8 cents. Gallon of milk dropped to 42 cents. Ford car prices went up $100. Brand new Pontiac costs $900 now.”

The next comment though, was that he didnt understand how a

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