The Good (and not so bad) News Thread

nearlynew

If you want to read a short, scandalous tale of betrayal, theft and greed involving, nissan, BMW and the london olyimpic committee, see here ...

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/autocarconfidential/archive/2009/11/18/an-olympic-sized-scandal.aspx

alleycat`

spadoosh wrote: »

As for the massive car production that is fantastic news, least we forget that most manufactures in the uk took long production breaks to get rid of all their stock build up and as such are making up and refilling the 'fields of unsold cars' i predict a glut of stock in new cars.

Not really sure where the economy is regarding "good or bad" (as i'm not that clever) but to be fair to Nissan the lead time on that "juke thing" and the "QashCow" were seriously high not 12 months ago (circa 7 to 8 months lead time on most models).

I suspect that not a lot of them went to sit in fields as the orders to go out of the country were massive.

They also really struggled to get parts suppliers to keep up, even Renault couldn't keep up with engine supply (on the diesel models).

I suspect Nissan (and a few other manufacturers for that matter) were seriously caught with their pants down after moving to just in time delivery.

Japans earth quake didn't help either.

Based on the lunatic lead times for the Evoque i suspect Jag/Land Rover are going to have a good year too.

StevieJ

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Oh good. UK saved.

I won't post any counterbalance arguments....wouldn't want to upset!!

Amusing though, that on the interest rate thread the same people are suggesting keeping lower interest rates because the economy is so bad is the right thing to do! I daren't blink!

Don't you like good news Graham ?

StevieJ

What is good economic news for the US tends to be good news for the rest of the world.

Orders to American factories rose in November by the most in four months, showing gains in manufacturing will help the economy grow.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-04/orders-to-u-s-factories-rise-the-most-in-four-months-as-recovery-quickens.html

wotsthat

UK service sector 'surprisingly buoyant' in December

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16424145

Activity in the UK service sector grew in December at its fastest rate since July, according to the latest purchasing managers' index (PMI).

The PMI for December was 54.0, up from 52.1 in November. Any figure over 50 indicates that the sector is growing.

On Wednesday, PMI figures for the construction sector - which accounts for 10% of GDP - showed the index rose to 53.2 in December compared with 52.3 the previous month.

Neville Hall, at Credit Suisse, said: "It does suggest that, after what looks as if it could be a pretty poor fourth quarter of 2011, as if the economy has regained a bit of momentum going into 2012."

Graham_Devon

StevieJ wrote: »

Don't you like good news Graham ?

I do.

But I won't be donning my rosey spectacles just yet.

Just find it mildly amusing that on this thread, the news and economy are in good shape and getting better, but when it comes to discussing interest rates, the economy is so dire, we can't even raise them 0.5%.

May I say, slightly hypocritical? But lets face it, this is war between two sets of people, and any reasoning I give isn't going to make a blind bit of difference to the obvious put down I will get regardless.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Just find it mildly amusing that on this thread, the news and economy are in good shape and getting better, but when it comes to discussing interest rates, the economy is so dire, we can't even raise them 0.5%.

May I say, slightly hypocritical? But lets face it, this is war between two sets of people, and any reasoning I give isn't going to make a blind bit of difference to the obvious put down I will get regardless.

Graham, you're like a fish out of water in this good news thread.

Things are pretty grim out there but:
- they aren't as bad as you think
- they never were as bad as you thought
- they never will be as bad as you think

The majority of news is bad - this thread is intended to show that good news can be fairly easily found.

Obviously not good enough to warrant a rise in interest rates;)

StevieJ

More good news for the US?

US Companies added more workers than forecast in December, a sign that the U.S. labor market was gaining momentum heading into 2012, according to a private report based on payrolls.
The 325,000 increase was the highest in records going back to 2001 and exceeded the highest projection in a Bloomberg News survey after a revised 204,000 gain the prior month, the report from the Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Employer Services showed today. The median estimate called for an advance of 178,000

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-05/u-s-company-payrolls-expanded-by-a-more-than-estimated-325-000-adp-says.html

alleycat`

StevieJ wrote: »

More good news for the US?



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-05/u-s-company-payrolls-expanded-by-a-more-than-estimated-325-000-adp-says.html

Do they include seasonal jobs in those numbers?
I'm always suspect about December employment figures (even tho' i'd like to see it as a positive).

Conrad

I've plagurised much of the good news in here for my own thread in DT - hope nobody minds, I didn't see the point in doubling the workload!

Many thanks