Genuine Parts Company (GPC) reported an 18% drop in profits to $108 million in the third quarter from $131 million in the prior-year quarter. On an earnings per share (EPS) basis, profit of 67 cents was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents. Nevertheless, it was lower than the year-ago EPS of 81 cents. Sales for the quarter fell 10% to $2.61 billion. Genuine Parts’ Automotive and Office Products segments witnessed improvements during the quarter. However, Industrial Parts and Electrical/Electronic Material segments have not yet recovered. Revenue in the Automotive Parts segment fell 1% to $1.38 billion, Industrial Parts segment slashed 22% to $711 million, Office Products segment declined 5% to $436 million and Electrical Group tumbled 30% to $89 million. Financial Position Genuine Parts has strengthened its financial position through working capital and asset management initiatives as well as cost reduction efforts. The ...

U.S. stocks stayed above the threshold reached yesterday as a late-session buying helped offset weakness in banking and technology shares.  Financials dragged on stocks through the early afternoon even as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better-than-expected profit reports.   However, the final fifteen minutes witnessed much of the activity as higher oil prices sent energy stocks higher and, in turn, helped the broader market.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 level for the second-successive day, edging up 47 points, or 0.5%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 4 points, or 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat.  The gains in the Dow average were led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) whose shares jumped 2.9%.  The Windows 7 is slated for release on October 22.

Among energy stocks, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shares climbed 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, as crude prices jumped to their highest

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Six Dow components are scheduled to report as large-cap stocks dominate the first big week of earnings season. The 6 companies are Bank of America (...

Intel Corporation (

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New Car Sales Excellent in China; Used Car & Parts Suppliers OK in U.S.

Reports today indicate that Chinese new car sales are up 25% versus last year, to 827,000 cars in the month of February. This is up 12% from January.

Right now, China is the largest new car market in the world. Part of this is due to the car becoming a more affordable necessity there. Part may also be due to a tax cut by the Chinese Government targeted at small, fuel efficient vehicles.

Used car sales continue to hold up in the U.S., as consumers are shying away from new cars. Consumers are fixing up old cars rather than trading in for a new car. The relative performance of stocks that sell used cars and auto parts has been fantastic over the past six months, as can be seen below:

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Misery Index for the Week Ended January 23, 2009

January 23, 2009 ndash; The DJIA lost 202 points this last week, or 2.4%, as the drip of negative economic data and downbeat corporate earnings reports continued. All things being equal, it could have been worse, as the 8,000 level was breached each trading session of the shortened week. Here is this weekrsquo;s past Misery Index:nbsp;nbsp;

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Profit warnings ndash; BASF, ECB, Varian, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Belden, AZZ, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Ultralife Batteries, Parker Hannifin, United Rentals, Cash America, Air Products, WSP Holdings, Wonder Auto, Electro, Lockheed Martin, Sony, Northrop Grumman, Molina Healthcare, Schlumberger, nbsp;Genuine Parts, MEMC, Interline Brands.nbsp;nbsp;

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Time Warner (almost 800 jobs), Rio Tinto (1,100 jobs worldwide), Bose (1,000 jobs or 10% of staff),nbsp; Rohm amp; Hahs (900 jobs), Tandy Brands (about 17% of workforce),nbsp; Burberry (more than 500 jobs), BHP Billiton (6,000 jobs), Eaton (5,200 …

Monday:Economic: NAEarnings: Fastenal (FAST), XL Cap (XL)Tuesday:Economic: NAEarnings: J&J (JNJ), Pepsi (PEP), Supervalu (SVU), WW Grainger (GWW), Altera (ALTR), CSX (CSX), Genentech (DNA), Intel (INTC), USANA (USNA)Wednesday:Economic: Weekly Crude,Earnings: BlackRock (BLK), C Schwab (SCHW), Coke (KO), Delta (DAL), JP Morgan (JPM), St Jude (STJ), Wells Fargo (WFC), Badger (BMI), eBay (EBAY), Novellus (NVLS), Landstar (LSTR), Steel Dynamics (STLD), Xilinx (XLNX)Thursday:Economic: Weekly Claims, Wholesale Invs (0.4%)Earnings: Bank of NY (BK), BB&T (BBT), Citigroup (C), CIT Group (CIT), Continental (CAL), Cypress (CY), Harley (HOG), Hershey (HSY), Illinois Tool (ITW), Merrill (MER), Nokia (NOK), Nucor (NUE), Parker Hannifin (PH), Sherwin W (SHW), Sonoco (SON), Southwest (LUV), Sunpower (SPWRA), United Tech (UTX), Cap One (COF), Gilead (GILD), Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Zions Banc (ZION)Friday:Economic:Earnings: Amcol (ACO), Comerica (CMA), Genuine Parts (GPC), Honeywell (HON), ...