Ford Posts Record Q2 Profits, Up Almost 19%, Surpasses Expectations, All Regions Profitable Except Europe

?Good job, Al?, ?Thanks Bill?

For the 16th consecutive quarter, Ford Motor Co. profits have risen, with the Dearborn automaker reporting a 2nd quarter 2013 profit of $1.23 billion, up 18.6% from 2012, working out to 45? per share, exceeding analysts? projections of 37 cents a share. Pretax profit for the quarter was up 40% to $2.56 billion. The company said that it set records for pre-tax profits in both the 2nd quarter and 1st half of 2013, making $4.8 billion in the first six months of the year.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally attributed the company?s success to his One Ford plan. ?Our strong second quarter results in every region around the world is another proof point that our One Ford plan is continuing to deliver and is building momentum.?

After losing over $30 billion from 2006 to 2008 as the American car industry melted down, Ford will have its fifth profitable year in a row.

Revenue was also up, 14.4% to $38.1 billion. The good quarterly results caused Ford to raise predictions for the full year. FoMoCo expects now to make more than the $8 billion it made last year and anticipates that the U.S. car and light truck market will surpass 15.5 million units, perhaps even reaching 16 million. Sales were also good in the 2nd quarter, up 15%, gaining Ford nearly 1% additional market share in the U.S. Average transaction prices were also up, ~$1,400 a vehicle, and Ford?s profit margin in the North American market of 10.4% leads all major manufacturers. The only negative part of Ford?s report was that incentives were up by $500 a vehicle, more than the industry average.

North America still remains the engine driving Ford?s profits, with the company reporting a $2.3 billion profit in that region. Europe, where car sales are the lowest they?ve been in two decades, dragged down global profits, but Ford CFO Bob Shanks said that the region is improving earlier than expected. Ford lost $348 million in Europe during the 2nd quarter, an improvement of over $50 million, and it also revised its 2013 projections for Europe, expecting loses to match last year?s $1.8 billion of red ink, instead of the $2 billion previously projected. Ford is restructuring its European operations and reducing overcapacity with three plants slated to close by early 2014.

News was better from the combined Asia Pacific Africa operations which reported record quarterly profits for the region of $177 million, a turnaround from a $66 million loss last year. South America also did well for Ford, posting $151 million in profits.

Source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/07/ford-posts-record-q2-profits-up-almost-19-surpasses-expectations-all-regions-profitable-except-europe/

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Detroit manager scores first win over unions in bankruptcy bid

By Bernie Woodall and Joseph Lichterman

DETROIT (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday dealt a blow to Detroit's public employee unions and pension funds opposed to the city's historic bankruptcy filing by suspending legal challenges in Michigan state courts while he reviews the city's petition for protection from creditors.

Judge Steven Rhodes ordered three lawsuits filed by city workers, retirees and pension funds be halted and extended that stay to suits against Michigan's governor, treasurer and Detroit's emergency manager. Rhodes' action ensures that the only path to fight the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition runs through his courtroom in downtown Detroit.

It also sets the stage for what is expected to be a protracted and bruising battle over the city's eligibility to restructure more than $18 billion in debt and pension and healthcare liabilities under the broad protections of federal bankruptcy law.

"It gives us one venue to settle our disputes. This brings it into one court where it should be," said Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who attended the oral arguments before Rhodes on Wednesday morning but did not return for the judge's ruling from the bench in the afternoon.

The city's unions and pension funds had hoped to keep the fight in state court, where they felt Michigan's constitutional protections of retiree benefits would prevail against efforts by Orr to scale them back. Now, barring an appeal of the Rhodes ruling, their fight likely turns to convincing the judge that Orr has not dealt with them in good faith in negotiations since he was appointed by state officials in March.

"Stay or no stay, we will never stop fighting for Detroit and its workers," Al Garrett, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, Detroit's biggest union, said in a statement.

Union members in the packed courtroom held their heads in their hands or shook their heads as Rhodes ruled against them on all three of the motions at issue in the day's proceedings. Meanwhile, city firefighters, worried that the bankruptcy case will lead to stinging cuts in their retirement benefits, protested outside.

Ironically, Wednesday's launch of the bankruptcy case began exactly 312 years after the settlement that became Detroit was founded in 1701 by French soldier Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, after whom the iconic Cadillac automobile brand was named when the city grew to be the cradle of the U.S. automotive industry.

Detroit, which also gave birth to the music industry's Motown sound in the 1960s, has struggled for decades as companies moved or closed, crime became rampant and its population shriveled by almost two-thirds since the 1950s to about 700,000 at present. The city's revenue failed to keep pace with spending, leading to years of budget deficits and a dependence on borrowing to stay afloat.

PROVE INSOLVENCY, GOOD FAITH

The immediate next step in the case now is a procedural hearing before Rhodes set for August 2. At some point after that, Rhodes will preside over formal hearings to determine whether Detroit is eligible to declare bankruptcy. The city's Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy petition is the largest in U.S. history.

The next phase of the case involves the city proving that it is insolvent. The city will also have to prove it made a good-faith effort to negotiate with its creditors or that there are too many creditors to make negotiating possible.

In his initial court filing last week, Orr said the pool of potential creditors, including current city workers, retirees, and bondholders, is vast and it would have been essentially impossible to negotiate with each of them outside of the Chapter 9 process.

In a signal that the judge is going to press both sides into hard negotiations, Rhodes has proposed the appointment of a federal judge as mediator in the case.

Gerald Rosen, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, can direct parties in the case to mediate and designate other mediators, according to the proposed order, which also said information from the mediation sessions would not be disclosed or placed in evidence. Rosen's appointment will be at issue during the August 2 hearing.

Detroit has more than $18 billion of debt and unfunded liabilities it is seeking to restructure, some at rates as low as pennies on the dollar, according to Orr's preliminary offer to creditors last month. Roughly half its liabilities stem from retirement benefits, including $5.7 billion in liabilities for healthcare and other retiree benefits and a $3.5 billion pension liability.

Orr wants to wrap up the city's bankruptcy case by September 2014, but the process for determining a municipality's eligibility for bankruptcy, which in Detroit's case may involve arguments concerning the state constitutionality of the filing, could drag on. In Stockton, California's case, it took almost a year.

(Additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman in Detroit, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Nick Brown in New York; Writing by Karen Pierog; Editing by Dan Burns, Matthew Lewis and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fight-over-detroit-bankruptcy-begins-federal-court-040959917.html

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California maker recalls salsa

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Source: http://thetowntalk.com/article/20130724/NEWS01/130724011/-1/rss01

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Uganda July coffee exports seen edging 3 pct lower yr/yr: UCDA

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda expects its July coffee exports to fall 3 percent to 300,000 60-kg bags compared with the same month in 2012 due to unfavourable weather conditions, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said in a report seen by Reuters on Monday.

"In Central Region, the weather has been generally very hot and dry... there were fears that the hostile weather may affect development of the coffee berries and consequently reduce volume and quality of coffee expected to be picked next harvest season," state-run UCDA said in its June monthly report.

Uganda's coffee season runs from October to September and central and eastern regions together account for 55 percent of the country's annual coffee output.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uganda-july-coffee-exports-seen-edging-3-pct-103705816.html

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Senators centre Jason Spezza snubbed by Team Canada

Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza. (Darren Brown, Ottawa Sun)

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OTTAWA?-?

Let the second-guessing begin.

On the heels of a deal to allow NHLers to compete in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Team Canada and Hockey USA both unveiled their orientation camp rosters Monday, with three Senators in a position to earn spots once the final squads are named.

Defenceman Marc Methot was the lone Senator named to Team Canada?s orientation camp on Monday, leaving Sens fans stung and scratching their heads over a perceived snub to star centre Jason Spezza.

After accompanying Team Canada as a reserve on a disastrous trip to Turin in 2006, Spezza was passed over on the initial invite list for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

He was eventually invited to camp after an injury to Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Sakic?s retirement, but didn?t make the final cut.

At the time, Spezza said he used that snub as motivation.

?It definitely opens your eyes a little bit and puts a little bit of fire in the belly, when you don?t get named to something like that,? he told reporters at the time. ?Maybe the way it?s worked out might be a blessing in disguise.?

Yet there was no disguising Methot?s excitement, with the defenceman thanking fans for the ?Twitter love,? which he said made up for an ?awful? day on the links.

Methot wore the Maple Leaf at the World Championships in 2011 and 2012 when he was still with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and will attend his first Olympic orientation camp August 25-28 in Calgary.

Both goaltender Craig Anderson and newly-acquired sniper Bobby Ryan were extended invites to Team USA?s camp in Arlington, Va.

Anderson, one of six American goalies invited to camp, represented his home country at the World Championships in 2006 and again in 2008.

At 26, Ryan is already a veteran of the international circuit, earning a silver medal in Vancouver, and competing for Team USA at the 2006 World Juniors and last year?s World Championships.

Robin Lehner and Erik Karlsson were previously announced as invitees to Team Sweden?s camp.

Twitter: @OttSunHelmer

Poll

Should Jason Spezza have made the cut for Team Canada training camp?

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/07/22/jason-spezza-snubbed-by-team-canada

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NASA's Spitzer observes gas emission from Comet ISON

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have observed what most likely are strong carbon dioxide emissions from Comet ISON ahead of its anticipated pass through the inner solar system later this year.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/jP1tqTpKsG0/130723155727.htm

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6 Authors Share What To Know Before You Write Your First Book ...

There comes a times in every professional?s life (okay maybe not every, but give me credit for being clever) where they decide they should write a book.

As I?ve pondered this, I often wonder what it is that Amazon summaries, inside hardback covers, introductory chapters, and of course, the blogs don?t tell you about the process of writing a book.

So I asked some author friends of mine what they would say to someone about what they wish they knew before the wrote their first book. Here?s what they said:

Jay Baer:

?I wish I would have known that marketing a book is twice as hard as writing a book.?

Jay?s new book is called?Youtility, a resource to help you understand why smart marketing is about how you?re helping and not the hype you think you need to create.

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Dave Ursillo:

?Your first book will be both the best book and the worst book you will have ever written.?

Dave Ursillo is the creator of The Literati Writers?who just launched a new?Kindle book: Before You Quit Writing, Read This!
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Christine Renae:

?I wish someone would have told me that you can?t just hire anyone on elance to format it for sale. I had to redo it right after it?s release because of that.?

Check out Christine?s new book: Home Business Startup Bible
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Matthew Kimberley:

?No taxation without representation: I wish I?d gotten an agent to negotiate on my behalf. I?d be retired by now ??

Matthew is the author of How To Get A Grip which I have discussed on this website many a time.
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Chris Illuminati:

?I wish someone would have told me to step back and enjoy the whole experience a little more. Some people never get the chance to see their name on the cover of a book on a store shelf. Unless they write it on there in Sharpie.?

Learn more about Chris: Chrisilluminati.com
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Jillian Conley

?Doodle in the margin. Your best ideas come when you least expect it so write them down and organize later.?

Learn more about Jillian: JillianRaeConley.com

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Conversation:

Are you thinking of writing a book? What questions do you have?
Authors, what do you want people to know before they start their first book?
Do you know how you want to promote your book when it?s finally here? (Hint: this is not the way)

About Amy Schmittauer

Amy is the Founder of Savvy Sexy Social and President of Vlog Boss Studios, a digital marketing agency specializing in video content creation. Connect with her on Twitter.

Source: http://savvysexysocial.com/2013/07/22/what-to-know-before-you-write-your-first-book-quotes/

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