On Monday Ford offered a glimmer of light a auto manufacturing in irons by reporting that it had made a US$1B profit in Q-3. The car maker also reported its North American arm returning to profitability after four-and-a-half years and raised its official view on its outlook, saying it was on course to be “solidly profitable” by 2011. Ford, the only one of the USA’s Big 3 auto makers to avoid bankruptcy this year, was aided by cost cutting, increased market share and the US government sponsored incentives such as the “cash for clunkers” program. Ford’s net income in Q-3 was US$997M, or 29 cents per share, compared with a net loss of US$161M, or 7 cents per share, in the same period Y 2008. Savvy market observers expected on average that Ford would post a loss of 13 cents per share.
-Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. www.livetradingnews.com
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