Friday, April 27, 2012

Daily News Briefs: April 27, 2012

Here's what we've got our eye on today:

  • Ford's profits for the 1st three months of 2012 have fallen in comparison to last year, the automaker reports. The Blue Oval reported a $2.3 billion pre-tax operating profit on $32.4 billion in revenue; that's a $544 million decrease in operating profit and a $700 million decrease in revenue compared to the primary quarter of 2011, based on Ford. The automaker blames the weak European economy and the slower-than-planned launch of the brand new global Ford Ranger, which was delayed by flooding in Thailand. Conversely, North American profits were the very best Ford has seen because the year 2000. 
  • Daimler AG - parent company of Mercedes-Benz and Smart - posted better profits than Ford; the corporate had a pre-tax operating profit of $2.81 billion, in line with the automaker. Daimler's revenue totaled $35.6 billion, which was up 9% from last year. Daimler attributes record sales at Mercedes-Benz for the increased profits; the carmaker sold 338,300 Mercedes-branded cars within the first three months of 2012, that's a 9% increase over last year. 
  • In more fiscal news, Honda says it greater than doubled its consolidated operating profit for the 1st fiscal quarter of 2012 to $1.4 billion. The outcome marks the 1st increase in Honda's profits in five fiscal quarters, in keeping with Reuters. Honda has suffered greater than its rivals Nissan and Toyota from the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and Japan's strong yen, the newswire reports. Honda is aiming to recover U.S. market share, targeting 10% for 2012. Currently, Honda has a 9.2% U.S. market share, that's down from a ten.7% share in 2011, in line with the Wall Street Journal. 
  • Kia also reported strong profits today for the start of 2012. The Korean carmaker is reporting a $1.1 billion net profit, that's up 26% from last year, per Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The carmaker attributes its strong gains to robust sales within the U.S. (up 32%), Europe (25%) and China (15%). 
  • CNN Money reports that gasoline prices probably won't hit all-time highs this summer as was previously forecasted by industry experts. Prices on the pump have slowly declined from a countrywide average of $3.95 a gallon for normal gas in the beginning of the month to $3.83 a gallon currently, in keeping with AAA. Further signs that prices will continue to diminish could be gleaned from trading in Ny on gasoline futures, in accordance with CNN Money. It reports a 30-cent drop inside the price of a gasoline future - from $3.40 a gallon to $3.10 a gallon - from April 1 through April 25. Prices could increase sharply, says CNN Money, because of potential refinery issues at the East Coast.


From WhatNewsToday.net

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