American Axle (AXL) posted a net loss of 18 cents before special items in the third quarter of the year. This is better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 37 cents per share. Net sales dipped 22% to $409.6 million. However, in absolute terms, it is the highest quarterly sales of the year. The lower sales were on the back of a 18% decline in customer production volumes for the North American light truck and sport utility vehicle (SUV) programs that American Axle currently supports for GM and Chrysler. American Axle’s content-per-vehicle (measured by the dollar value of its product sales supporting GM's North American light truck and SUV programs and Chrysler's Heavy Duty Dodge Ram pickup trucks) fell to $1,396 from $1,453 in the third quarter of 2008. Non-GM sales constituted 18.3% of total sales in the reported quarter. The company’s non-GM ...

The driving philosophy of corporate America used to be based on the principle of in-house development. If it wasn’t made in-house, companies simply weren’t interested. Companies wanted things over which they had full control, and from which they could enjoy 100% of the profits. Total independence. Total control. If a good idea came along that wasn’t developed in-house, the temptation was to find some way to tweak it and claim that it was developed in-house.

All of this led to some pretty nasty lawsuits. One of the best known cases, popularized in the movie Flash Of Genius, was that of Robert Kearns. Kearns was a Detroit engineer who developed the electronic intermittent windshield wiper for automobiles, getting his first patent for it in 1967. When he failed to get the major automakers to buy his idea and then saw them come

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One great thing about my position here as Director of Marketing is my extensive contact list. I say that because I have access to thousands of excellent traders, investors, and economists at my finger tips! So when things around the world catch my attention, I can quickly find someone who can give me the skinny on what’s really going down. One of my contacts is Nicholas Vardy, Editor, The Global Guru, and he’s got a MUCH better pulse on the world aboard then I do. That’s why I asked him to give us his reasons why the markets outside the US are doing so well and WHY!

He told me he’d love to get feedback from the Trader’s Blog readers, so let’s not let him down! You can also visit The Global Guru to get his new report on his favorite global picks.

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Make Your Fortune from the

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Let China’s Middle Class Lead You Into Luxury

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

According to the World Bank, the global middle class could grow to 1.15 billion in 2030 – a huge jump from the 430 million middle class folks in 2000.

Driving the extraordinary growth is… you guessed it, the emerging “BRIC” nations. In 2000, developing countries like China, Brazil and India accounted for 56% of that number. But by 2030, analysts expect it to climb as high as 93%… with China alone accounting for 52% of the expected increase.

This represents a tremendous amount of wealth. A Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) executive compared it to adding a city the size of New York to the world… every three months.

Needless to say, that opens up amazing opportunities. But in order to succeed, companies who want to profit from this

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Labor unrest at Ford’s (F) auto supplier plant in India has prompted the company to shut down its Oakville, Ontario, plant for the week, which employs 3,000 workers in two shifts. The closure would cost Ford 5,000 vehicles. The idled employees would get 65% of regular pay from a combination of funding from the company and employment insurance.  The strike at Rico Auto Industries in the state of Haryana in India turned violent after an employee died recently during a protest. It has triggered a shortage of transmission parts to the Canadian plant. The plant produces Edge SUV, the Flex and Lincoln MKT seven-passenger vehicle and the Lincoln MKX.  Last week, labor trouble had erupted at some of Ford’s plants when some members of United Auto Workers (UAW) declined to ratify the modifications to its 2007 labor contract. The modifications include banning strikes over wages or ...

Compuware Corp. (CPWR) yesterday reported revenues of $217.9 million in its fiscal second quarter, down 19.2% year over year but up 1.6% sequentially.

Software license fees grew 18.7% year over year to $50.1 million. Maintenance fees declined 12.0% year over year to $109.7 million. Revenues from professional services came in at $58.1 million compared to $102.9 million in the same quarter last year. Compuware plans to have a smaller but more profitable Professional Services Business going forward.

Operating margin improved to 19% from 10% in the year-ago quarter due to a 27% decrease in operating expenses. The company has divested a few of its peripheral products and services (Quality family of products and DevPartner software) thereby reducing unprofitable revenue streams and increasing margins. The company plans to concentrate on its software business and deliver superior end-to-end application performance, which the company calls Business Service Delivery. 

These divestitures have reduced the top-line by

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Ford Motor Co. (F) has finally reached a tentative national agreement with 250 leaders of the United Auto Workers (UAW) on modifications to its 2007 labor contract. The deal, which runs until 2011, will help Ford end its cost disadvantage while securing jobs for the union workers at the same time. However, the deal has yet to be approved by the 41,000 UAW members at Ford. Voting will begin this week. Ford was upset with its higher labor costs compared to its Detroit rivals, General Motors and Chrysler. Both of those companies were given concessions as they headed into bankruptcy protection earlier this year. However, the deal will enable the automaker to lower the labor costs to match those of its rivals. If the members ratify the agreement, they will be given bonuses and additional work with investments at some factories. The $1,000 bonus is payable ...

Compuware Corp. (CPWR) yesterday announced that it will acquire privately-held Gomez Inc. for $295 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be completed by November and dilute fiscal 2010 EPS due to an amortization charge of $5 million per quarter. Management expects to see a positive impact on 2011 results.   Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Compuware provides software products and professional services to many of the largest users of information systems in the world. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Gomez is a leader in web application experience management and its clients include Google and Facebook. Gomez employs 272 people around the world. Compuware plans to retain all of them after the close of the transaction.   Compuware as well as Gomex provides unified application performance management solution. Management added that while other players have fragmented solutions, only Compuware and Gomez can optimize application performance across the enterprise and ...

Caraco Pharmaceuticals, an US-based subsidiary of Sun Pharma has agreed to go through a series of actions as per the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America after which the FDA would lift their ban on certain manufacturing units of Caraco Pharmaceuticals. The voluntary agreement was reached between the two today and Caraco has agreed to take a series of measures to satisfy the Food and Drug Administration panel so that they can approve and permit to resume the manufacturing units in the Detroit area.

Currently, Caraco Pharmaceuticals is facing a ban on certain manufacturing pharmaceutical products that are distributed in the Detroit and Michigan area for violating theFDA norms on the cGMP. Hence, this agreement is one solution for Caraco Pharmaceuticals to re-establish their

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The rally may end any day, but it didn’t end yesterday. Stocks rose 127 points, as measured by the Dow. Oil closed at $66. Gold rose $2.50.

We said we were doing some serious thinking this week. Maybe it is the season. But more and more, our thoughts become grayer. Less black. Less white. Less hard. Less soft.

A few years ago, it looked to us as though the world financial system had gone to war. We cheerfully awaited the victory parade. We figured Mr. Market would whup the feds good and hard. It hasn’t happened so far.

On one side, are the forces of a natural market correction… following a long, long period of expansion. The easier money gets, the more people tend to mis-spend and mis-invest it. Then, inevitably, their mistakes must be corrected. That’s what bear markets and recessions are for.

But the feds don’t like bear markets or recessions.

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