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Tesco's decision to exit the U.S. market in Dec. 2012. Tesco's U.S. plan was made after research showing buyers would favor smaller stores than large supermarkets, and more fresh products. Tesco made its entry in the U.S. market in 2007 in Nevada, California and Arizona in areas with new housing projects. When the mortgage crisis hit in 2008, foreclosures and the recession affected these areas where new stores were opened. Some of the ideas were lost in the implementation. The format that worked in Britain failed to takeoff in the U.S. Many stores were located in area where people were used to driving longer distances and could find a larger store with more selection a few minutes away. American buyers preferred to shop for name brands with more selections, Tesco carried more house brands. Experts say Tesco failed to establish a clear proposition to buyers. Tesco faces a loss of 1 billion pounds on the U.S. venture.

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Are bubble type incentives inflating the size of the U.S. auto market in 2012-2013 as happened in the past decade. This could hurt future sales. Japanese automakers have sharply increased incentives to make a come back after the tsunami and earhtquake restricted supplies. U.S. automakers are reluctant to go further down the incentives route that hurt them in the past decade. The result is higher inventories for Detroit automakers, another undesirable result. General Motors had 5 months of Malibu supply at dealers in Nov. 2012 at the current sales rate, Ford 4 months of Fiesta subcompact inventory and 73 days of total inventory overall, Chrysler 6 months of 2013 Dodge Dart inventory. GM has 3 months of Chevy Cruze inventory, and 138 days of Chevy Silverado pickup truck inventory. GM decided to idle one of two plants making the Cruze. In contrast Toyota has 2 months inventory for the Camry and Corolla. The largest incentives in the U.S. market are from Nissan, a 55% jump to average $4,273 in Nov. 2012 from $2,764 in Jan 2012. Honda increased incentives to average $2,428 from $1,978 in Feb. 2012, a 23% increase. Toyota up to average $2,075 in Nov 2012 from $1717 in Jan. 2012, a 21% increase, according to TrueCar.com, with zero percent interest rates not counted in these numbers. Ford offers $2895 off its 2013 Focus sedan, which has 2 months inventory. General Motors offers between $2900 and $3500 in average incentives , according to TrueCar.com....

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German banks have commited 60% of their capital in loans to the shipping indusry, according to Moody's Investors Service. The 10 largest German banks have loaned 98 billion euros to the shipping industry and provided a surge of credit to the industry that has led to structural overcapacity. This includes Commerzbank and banks in Hanover and Hamburg. Under German law investors make tax free profits in this popular tax shelter. Experts in Hamburg say the container industry ordered too many ships and banks provided easy credit, resulting in an oversupply, declining cargo shipping prices, and losses at shipping companies. HSH Nordbank in Hamburg, owned by local governmnts and savings banks, says it need 1.3 billion euros in guaranees from Hamburg and the state of Schleswig -Holstein. Moody's affirmed the negative outlook for German banks partly because of the bad loans in shipping.

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German chancellor Merkel wins the CDU election for party leader at the party convention in Hannover. The convention was held in Lower Saxony to give a boost to the election prospects of the CDU governor of the state, David McAllister. The CDU has 39% support in the polls and the 40% mark will be needed to form another coalition with the FDP, because of the sharp decline in the FDP's popularity. Merkel's personal popularity is high, with 58% favoring Merkel over 38% for the SPD candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbruck.

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Barley says Greece's debt buyback plan in Dec. 2012 is attractive for private investors. Earlier some private investors had bought Greek debt at 10-15% of face value. Greece now has 10 billion euros, including 0.5 billion for accrued interest to buy back Greek bonds at 32.1- 34.1% of face value. This should help Greece retire 28 billion euros face value in Greek debt, reducing the debt burden by 18 billion euros The IMF had pushed hard in negotiations for reducing Greek debt as a percentage of GDP by 2020 to levels where it could again access private markets. This is critical to making the Greece bailout work. Nomura estimates this will reduce Greece's debt by about 10% of GDP by 2020. Every little bit helps in Greece's struggle to recover financial stability.

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Lahart says Delta's move to go after Singapore Airlines 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic is the right move because of the landing rights it gains at Heathrow Airport in London. Delta is in a much better position to take advantage of the 304 takeoff and landing slots of Virgin than Singapore Airlines. It also helps ramp up the small number of 28 slots Delta holds at Heathrow, so that it can compete with American Airlines (AMR) and United on transatlantic routes.

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November 2012 light vehicle sales of cars and light trucks shows sales up significantly for Honda at 39%, Toyota 17%, and sales at Ford up 3%, GM 6%. GM decides to reduce production and not reduce prices with incentives that match competitors. VW sales increased 29%, Audi 24%, Daimler 13%, and BMW up 45%. Experts expect the better conditions in the U.S. auto market to continue especially as many cars that reach a life of 11 years need to be replaced. Light vehicle sales reach 1.14 million in Nov. 2012, up 15% over the prior year, and seasonally adjusted auto sales of 15.5 million are the highest since Jan 2008, according to Autodata Corp.

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The manufacturing competitiveness of Caterpillar and Komatsu U.S. in the mining equipment business.

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In 2012 40 brand name drugs with sales value of $35 billion lost patent protection. In 2013 this figure falls to $17 billion, according to analysts at Credit Agricole Securities. This means the opportunities for generics makers is diminishing. This is leading to consolidation and specialization by generics makers.