The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday said that it has sanctioned $6.5 billion in loans to investors under its Term Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). This action follows investors’ application for loans to buy securities backed by auto, credit card and other types of consumer loans, in the seventh round of such funding. The current loan amount is down from $6.9 billion requested in August but up from $5.4 billion in July. Also, it is substantially lower from $11.45 billion in June. The overall decrease in investors' appetite this month for government loans indicates that the investors are not relying much on the Fed for funding to buy these securities. A total of $14.7 billion was borrowed by investors for purchasing eligible asset-backed securities sold by companies including American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), General Electric (GE), Nissan Motor (NSANY) and Ford ...

The U.S. auto industry showed a 1% sales gain to produce 1.3 million vehicles in August. It was the first annual sales gain since October 2007. Sales of cars and light trucks surged 30% compared to July. The spike in sales was solely attributed to the Cash for Clunkers program launched by the U.S. government in late July. The program allowed consumers to trade in their old gas-guzzling cars and trucks with a mileage of 18 miles per gallon or less for a value of up to $3,500–$4,500.  As many as 690,114 new cars were sold under the program. Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC) and Ford (F) were the largest beneficiaries of the program with their fuel-efficient lineup of vehicles. Toyota Motor sales advanced 6.4% to 225,088 units, largely due to its best-selling model on the Cash for Clunkers buy list – Corolla. Honda ...

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, crude surge as profits, data spur rally

Wall Street rallies on solid profits, recovery hopes

Oil jumps as economic data raises economic recovery hope

* Dollar slips as risk sentiment improves

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, July 30 - Global stocks rallied and oil surged more than 5 percent on Thursday as solid corporate results worldwide and encouraging economic data boosted sentiment that had turned skittish earlier in the week.

Commodity prices jumped, with the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index <.CRB> of 19 commodities rising 3.9 percent, its biggest daily gain since March, after a two-day sell-off.

And Long-dated U.S. Treasury bonds rebounded as fears about the appetite for U.S. government debt eased after robust demand for $28 billion in new seven-year notes. ID:[nN30286312]

U.S. equity gains were broad-based, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> hitting an almost nine-month intraday high that was less than 4 points below the key 1,000 mark. The S&P closed up

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China has positioned itself as the world’s largest auto market, surpassing the U.S. with sales surging 36.5% year-over-year to 1.14 million units in June 2009. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, passenger car sales in China were 872,900 vehicles in June, 2009 whereas passenger car sales in the US for the same period were 859,847 units.

According to the Associated Press (AP), China’s total vehicle sales were up 17.7% to 6.1 million vehicles during the first half of 2009. China has overtaken US auto sales for five of the past six months. The U.S. market temporarily took the lead in May 2009 only to drop again the following month.

Stimulus package including lower sales tax, subsidies to trade in older cars and other incentives provided by the government has helped sales in China. According to the AP, the government of China has reduced retail sales tax on small cars by

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• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) was added to Goldman Sach's (NYSE:GS) conviction buy list from a previous "neutral" rating, due to both the company's significant operating leverage as well as growing confidence in the PC upgrade cycle expected next year , with the additional opportunity of improved consumer sentiment

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) downgraded shares of IBM (NYSE:IBM) to "neutral" from "buy"

• Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ:INFY) beat estimates by 8 cents, posting fiscal first-quarter earnings of 55 cents a share as revenues fell 2.9% y/y to $1.12 billion.  The company expects second quarter earnings of 50 cents to 51 cents a share and full-year earnings of $1.97 to $2.00

• Barclays (NYSE:BCS) upgraded KLA Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares to "overweight"

• General Motors (NASDAQ"GMGMQ) exits bankruptcy today

• Nissan Motor (NASDAQ:NSANY) CEO Ghosn warned 2010 is likely to prove "as difficult as 2009," with Europe expected among the slowest areas to recover worldwide

• Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) upgraded Western

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Russian stocks have taken yet another hit following President Dmitry Medvedev’s recognition of the independence of Georgia’s breakaway states, with investors pessimistic about future prospects. Nissan Motor sees strong growth continuing in Russia over the next five years but is wary of an inevitable decline. Japan’s Hamada port “is rapidly becoming a hub for trade with the Russian Far East”. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to provide jet fuel for AiRUnion, “the beleaguered alliance of five airlines”, from its contingency reserves. Yury Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow, has approved a $12 billion road building investment program for 2009-2011.