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Payless is determined to put a fashionably shod foot forward
NEW YORK — Fifth Avenue is famous for such foo-foo retailers as Gucci, Tiffany and Salvatore Ferragamo. Joining the club — just down the street with its grand opening Friday: Payless "Fashion Lab." Payless —Fashion Lab? Well, it's not officially called Fashion Lab. At least, not yet. That's an unofficial nickname that company executives have assigned to what may be the shoe giant's grandest experiment: a serious toehold in the world of fashion. Why shouldn't the big kahuna of the $47 billion shoe industry strut some fashion in the design of its shoes and stores? How else can it continue to sell one of every 10 pairs of shoes purchased in America?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2006-07-27-payless-usat_x.htm
 
Aldila, Callaway Golf shares in the rough
LOS ANGELES — Shares of golf equipment maker Aldila lost nearly half their value Thursday after a sharp drop in sales fueled investor fears that interest in golf is waning in the USA. Callaway Golf's stock was also in the rough, a day after the company posted quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street expectations as it works to restructure its business. Shares of Aldila fell 45% to $14.21 & Callaway shares fell over 6% to $11.70 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Bearish golf investors have long pointed to the sport's aging demographic, high cost to play, and statistics pointing to slowing trends as proof that the days of growth are over.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2006-07-27-golf_x.htm
 
Cadillac unveils new ads to grab attention of luxury buyers
Cadillac's new advertising strategy is about life, liberty and the pursuit of a new campaign. It's been four years since General Motors' luxury brand began featuring Led Zeppelin's '70s hit Rock and Roll in TV ads. The spots, part of its Break Through campaign, were widely credited with helping to breathe new life into a stodgy nameplate. On Wednesday, Cadillac unveiled its new ad campaign called Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit, which it plans to launch formally today. Cadillac is fighting to appeal to American customers at a time when foreign luxury brands are making gains. Cadillac's new-vehicle sales in the USA fell 21% to 23,265 in the first half of this year compared with the year-ago period, while overseas brands Mercedes-Benz and Lexus saw sales increases of 14% and 6.3%, respectively.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-07-27-cadillac_x.htm
 
Metallica to sell 4 albums on iTunes
LOS ANGELES — Hard rockers Metallica, who long refused to make available individual songs from its albums for sale online, has begun doing so on the iTunes Music Store. Beginning on Tuesday, the band put up four of its records —Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice For All— for sale on U.S. and Canadian versions of the popular online music retailer. Fans may buy tracks a la carte for 99 cents or purchase the albums, starting at $9.90.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-07-27-metallica-itunes_x.htm
 
EU in antitrust probe of rival DVD format creators
BRUSSELS — European Commission antitrust officials are probing the licensing strategies of two rival new generation DVD developers, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, the EU executive said on Thursday. HD DVD was created by Toshiba Corp, while Blu-ray Disc was developed by a Sony-led consortium which includes Apple, Philips, Samsung and Panasonic. "We have sent a letter earlier this month to the makers of HD DVD and Blu-ray to request information about licensing," a Commission spokesman said, declining to give any further information. The two products will be battling for a share in the lucrative audio-visual market providing they can convince consumers they should upgrade from their current DVD standard. HD DVD was released in April in the United States and has the support of Intel and Microsoft and the exclusive backing of General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios, makers of films such as King Kong and The Bourne Supremacy.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-27-eu-probes-dvd_x.htm
 
Lego kit builds better 'bots
NEW YORK — It's fun when a collection of plastic parts seems to have personality. Put together a robot with Lego's new Mindstorms NXT kit, set it on the kitchen floor, and watch it trundle forward on its rubber wheels till it senses an obstacle (a cabinet). It backs up, swings left, then proceeds on its new course, till it senses the next impediment. That's the charm of robotics — seeing something of ourselves, however basic, in an inanimate object. Most robot toys, however, are designed to do only one or a couple of things, and get boring quickly. Their charm often doesn't outlive the first set of batteries. Enthusiasts, many of them adults, have used it to build robots that sort Lego bricks by color, dispense soft drinks, or climb stairs. One Dane even turned it into a low-resolution scanner that took 3 to 4 hours to scan a CD cover. The latest version of Mindstorms, which will appear in stores Tuesday priced at $249.99, is a complete revamp that makes it easier to build a wider variety of mechanical friends.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2006-07-26-lego-mindstorms_x.htm
 
GM global sales rise in quarter
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) said on Friday that it sold 2.4 million vehicles globally in the second quarter, a 8.7 percent increase over the previous quarter. GM said its year-to-date sales were down 2.3 percent to 4.6 million compared to the same period a year ago, largely because of last year's popular employee discount incentive program in North America, which boosted sales, and lower fleet sales in Europe.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060728/bs_nm/autos_gm_sales_dc_2
 
Wal-Mart sees July same-store sales up 2.4 pct
CHICAGO - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Saturday estimated that July sales rose 2.4 percent at its U.S. stores open at least a year, toward the high end of its forecast, as it lowered prices to lure back-to-school shoppers. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, had forecast 1 percent to 3 percent same-store sales growth for July. Wal-Mart and most other major retailers will release final July sales totals on Thursday. But Wal-Mart kicked off its back-to-school campaign earlier than usual in July, and may have drawn customers away from rivals, analysts said. Wal-Mart used similar tactics during the November-December holiday shopping season in 2005.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060729/bs_nm/retail_walmart_sales_dc_1
 
Wal-Mart to Abandon Germany
FRANKFURT — Wal-Mart Stores, admitting defeat in Germany’s giant but cutthroat retail market, announced Friday that it would sell its 85 stores here to a German retailer, incurring a loss of $1 billion. Wal-Mart is retreating from the German retail market by selling out to the Metro Group. One of its 85 stores is in Dortmund, above. The decision to sell out to the Metro Group came two months after Wal-Mart sold its stores in South Korea and amounts to a marked retreat by the world’s largest retailer from its breakneck global expansion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/b...9shop.html?_r=1&ref=worldbusiness&oref=slogin
 
Automakers expect to see July sales drop
DETROIT - U.S. automakers are expected to register a dramatic decline in July vehicle sales compared with a year ago when heavy discounts stoked near-record sales. At the same time, high gas prices are driving many buyers toward more fuel-efficient models, an area where Asian manufacturers still dominate. New vehicle sales are expected to come in at about 1.54 million units, a 15 percent decrease from July 2005, according to estimates by the vehicle research site Edmunds.com. Automakers release their July sales results on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060728...MTqxQcB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
 
Toyota’s U.S. Sales Edge Past Ford’s
Toyota, which ranks No. 2 globally behind G.M., has been on an aggressive expansion push in the United States this decade, with a growing American network of plants. Toyota will open a factory in San Antonio this fall and is deciding where to build another assembly plant and an engine plant. Its expansion is a reason many analysts predict Toyota could beat G.M. in global sales as soon as this year. G.M. retained a narrow lead in the first half of 2006, numbers from Toyota this week showed. Toyota’s sales in July gave it 16.2 percent of the American market, compared with 15.9 percent for Ford. Three months ago, Toyota passed DaimlerChrysler, including both Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz, to rank as the third-biggest company in terms of American sales. In all, Detroit companies fell to their lowest market share in history last month, just 52 percent, as their lineups, laden with pickups and S.U.V.’s, failed to attract American buyers seeking fuel-efficient models in the face of high gasoline prices. Asian automakers, by contrast, took 41.4 percent of the market in July, their best performance ever, topping the 40 percent share they captured in May.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/a...e48bc85b4a5d&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
 
July auto sales drop
DETROIT - U.S. auto sales slid 17 percent in July as Americans shunned trucks and opted for more fuel-efficient cars, catapulting Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. past Ford Motor Co. into the No. 2 spot for the first time. Detroit-based automakers suffered double-digit declines in sales from the peak of last summer's incentive-driven boom, with DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group and Ford hardest-hit in a market hurt by high interest rates and gas prices. Chrysler Group lost 37 percent and Ford 34 percent, but Toyota jumped an industry-leading 16 percent, driven by a 25 percent surge for passenger cars such as the Corolla.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=OBR&Date=20060801&ID=5913139
 
Northwest Flight Attendants Reject Pact
MINNEAPOLIS - Northwest Airlines flight attendants said on Tuesday that they've started a 15-day countdown toward a strike on the night of Aug. 15, putting the bankrupt carrier at risk for even more financial problems. The Association of Flight Attendants made the threat after Northwest imposed a new contract that 80% of flight attendants had rejected in June. Flight attendants rejected a second agreement on Monday. The union has said its job actions could range from limited, brief work stoppages to a full-fledged strike. The airline doesn't believe that's legal.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060801-000731-1237
 
Fivetears said:
DaimlerChrysler Profit More Than Doubles
DETROIT - Fueled by a turnaround at Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler AG's second-quarter profit more than doubled from the previous year, but the numbers would have been far better without a dramatic slump at the Chrysler Group. Overall, the automaker on Thursday reported earnings of $2.3 billion in the April-June period, compared with $942 million in the second quarter of 2005.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=AP&Date=20060727&ID=5900394
Click to expand...
i love the new commercials with the German guy with the mustache. I know 4 people who bought the new charger and they love it 4 doors and all.
 
JOVARN said:
i love the new commercials with the German guy with the mustache. I know 4 people who bought the new charger and they love it 4 doors and all.
Click to expand...
Dr Z really is cool, I hope hollywood finds a good supporting role for him. But having experienced the VW microbus in the 60's (a friend had one) it will eternally irritate me to hear Chrysler claming to have invented the mini-van.
 
Last edited:
Pilgrim said:
Dr Z really is cool, I hope hollywood finds a good supporting role for him. But having experienced the VW microbus in the 60's (a friend had one) it will eternally irritate me to hear Chrysler claming to have invented the mini-van.
Click to expand...

VW has historically resented the notion that the microbus is a van of any sort, mini or otherwise. That's why in the "Convoy", it's "seven long haired friends of Jesus, in a chartreause microbus" :D

To me though, it is a distinction without a difference, and I agree a mini-van is a minivan is a minivan...
 
Northwest Airlines net loss widens
CHICAGO - Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Corp. (Other OTC:NWACQ - news) on Monday posted a wider quarterly net loss, but said that excluding costs related to its reorganization, it saw a profit. The carrier, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, said its second-quarter net loss amounted to $285 million, or $3.27 per share, compared with $234 million or $2.69 per share a year earlier. The carrier said its operating revenue increased 3 percent to $3.3 billion. "Our second-quarter results demonstrate that we are making steady progress on our restructuring goals, which is reflected in our year-over-year cost and revenue performance improvements," Chief Executive Doug Steenland said in a statement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060807/bs_nm/airlines_northwest_earns_dc_4
 
Krispy Kreme to open first shop in Chinese-speaking world
HONG KONG — Doughnut maker Krispy Kreme plans to begin dipping into the massive Chinese-speaking market Tuesday, opening a shop in Hong Kong — China's richest city. The 2,000-square foot shop tucked in a side street in the busy Causeway Bay shopping district marks Krispy Kreme's debut on Chinese soil and only its second foray into East Asia. So far, Krispy Kreme has nine shops in South Korea, but it's expanding aggressively in other parts of the region. Other than Hong Kong, the company has signed franchise deals with groups in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia that plan to open stores by the end of the year. There are already more than 20 stores in Sydney, Australia. It's also signed up a franchisee in the Middle East.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2006-08-07-krispy-kreme-hongkong_x.htm
 
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