If analysts hit the mark with their forecasts, the Chrysler Group should have good news to report this week.
The US arm of DaimlerChrysler expected to post a significant, year-over-year increase in profitability. Industry observers look for the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker to increase operating profits as much as 20 percent, in sharp contrast to the anticipated plunge at Chrysler's German counterpart, Mercedes-Benz, where the financial picture is increasingly bleak.
For the year as a whole, David Healy of Burnham Securities expects Chrysler to generate 29 percent of DaimlerChrysler's operating income this year, up from 23 percent last year, and a flat zero the year before.
Healy expects Mercedes, meanwhile, to see operating income dip from 57 percent of the total in 2003 to a meager 13 percent when this year's results are tallied up.
Chrysler chief executive Dieter Zetsche "has done a hell of a job" since launching an austere turnaround program in January 2001, Healy said.
With a mix of cost cuts, quality improvements and striking new products, Chrysler has not only reversed its fortunes, but inverted the hierarchy at DaimlerChrysler, and its status as the strongest of the traditional domestic brands seems likely to continue for at least the near-term future, he said.
Recent weeks have brought bleak news from the company's rivals, however. After signaling to Wall Street that things weren't looking good, General Motors Corp revealed it lost US$1.1 billion during the first quarter, while drawing down cash reserves by a sizable US$3.5 billion. For the first three months of the year, GM's US market share sank 1.1 points year-over-year, to 25.2 percent, its lowest level in nearly three-quarters of a century.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so