Business

Having admitted in March that "used car prices will drop for years" and amid near-record inventories,  a so-called 'plateau' in car sales, and soaring auto-loan losses, WSJ is reporting that Ford is planning substantial cuts to its global workforce amid CEO Mark Fields’s drive to boost profits and address the auto maker’s sliding stock price, according to people briefed on the plan.

With near record high inventories of 3.9 million vehicles...

Demand tumbling...

Via Global Macro Monitor,

“Tightening is Easing”

 

Singapore has injected nitrous into its reputation as a playground for the superrich after a local used-car dealer launched a "vending machine" with 60 luxury cars, including Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, on offer. Used car seller Autobahn Motors opened a 15-story showroom in December in a futuristic looking building, dubbing it the "world's largest luxury car vending machine," according to Reuters, which interviewed Gary Hong, the company's general manager.

Last June, when Tesla unexpectedly announced it would acquire the cash burning behemoth that was SolarCity, which at the time was run by Lyndon Rive, a cousin of Elon Musk, many quickly alleged the transaction was nothing short of a less than "arm's length" bailout by Musk of both SolarCity and Rive. The reasons were legion: from the corporate cross ownership, with Musk Chairman and largest shareholder of both companies...

... to the extensive board overlap and potential "related party" conflicts of familial interest...

Submitted by Gordon Johnson of Axiom

Is the PBoC “Tweaking” the FX Reserve Data to Improperly Show Foreign Inflows?

Over the past 30 months when the PBoC sold/brought dollars (evidenced by a m/m decline in PBoC funds outstanding for FX), 66.7% of the time reported FX reserves fell/rose.