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The revival of Britain's automobile industry under foreign automakers BMW, Tata Motors and Honda. BMW and Tata Motors Land Rover operate plants at nearly full capacity in early 2014. The "working time account" model at BMW borrows from the German practice of "kurzarbeit" with extra hours put in by workers at times of high demand to be applied to wages when demand slows down. This and lower payroll wages have helped keep British costs down per hour in 2011 for carmakers to 25 euros. It compares with higher costs in France of 45 euros per hour, and 28 euros in Italy, 46 euros in Germany, according to joint research by KPMG and Germany's Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA.

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Apple innovations in design and software include new laptops, a version of iOS to be used in automobiles, a new Mac operating system called Mavericks, and a music service iTunes Radio.

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Economies in eastern europe are being hit hard by the crisis especially countries that borrowed hevily overseas and that have large amounts of debt.

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NYT's piece on Obama looking for clues for how he thinks and does things and how he might act, and some information about his background that relates to this.

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 A 4.30 or 5.30 wakeup routine where one goes to sleep between 9.00 and 9.30 pm is one that gives time for fitness, a chance to so something for oneself before daylight and before the world wakes up. This report is in Style in WSJ when it should be in the Health and Wellbeing section. Rising early is part of yoga tradition for meditation in India where it is called Brahmamurta (time of Brahma) generally between 3.30 am and 5.30 am in the early morning. It is the time of the Creator of the universe, Brahma.

It is the best time for meditation on Ram, Brahman, on Christ or the Buddha. It can also be used for creative activity and for work that require concentration and clarity of mind. When the whole world sleeps the sage is awake, says the Bhagavad Gita. In Christian churches this is also the time for early morning prayer.

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With only 63 million metric tons of food storage facilities and 75 metric tons of foodgrains stocks after the 2012 harvest season, India faces an acute shortage of storage capacity. About 3-4 million tons of additional capacity are planned by May or June 2012, and 11 million tons in 2013, according to India's Food Ministry, but more capacity will be needed this year. If not corrected this could mean that about 8 million tons of foodgrains could rot out in the open or in makeshift conditions. This is a major problem as about 200 million people in India are considered to be food-insecure, and an estimated 42% of children suffer form malnutrition.

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GM executive Mark Hogan had candid discussions with Akio Toyoda when Hogan began a second five year stint at NUMMI in 1997, and Akio was executive vice president at NUMMI in 1998. NUMMI was a joint venture between Toyota and GM. He now joins the Board of Directors at Toyota, the first outside board member, and only the second foreigner to do so after Jim Press. His role is to help counteract the insular culture at Toyota based in Nagoya, Japan, where most decisions end up coming to Nagoya. This was a problem that led to poor handling of the recall crisis in 2010, when Akio Toyoda brought Hogan in as an advisor to Toyota. He will listen to voices outside Japan and have direct access to Akio Toyoda. Hogan told the media: "I see my role as listening to global voices outside of Japan and then sharing insights that will help Toyota to respond more quickly to changes in society." His role also includes looking at Toyota's Brazilian operations, where Toyota has only 5.2% of the market and lags far behind Fiat, VW, and other competitors. Hogan headed GM's Brazilian operations in the 1990's and says he would kid Akio about Toyota's underperormance in Brazil. In 1994 Hogan left GM to become president of Magna International, a Canadian auto parts maker....

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US stock markets June 27 2025, after Israel-Iran war and NATO Summit in Hague. The rapid de-escalation after strikes on nuclear weapons development  sites was similar to the India- Pakistan war within days the US after strikes of its own on Fordow and Isfahan called for a ceasefire and an end to the war.

In briefings following the US strikes Lt Gen Dan Caine showed extraordinary composure and professional skills that were displayed throughout the crisis unlike anything seen in recent American military history. His rapport and connection with junior military officers was something that gives new confidence to the armed services of the United States.

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Scott Bessent, DJT's senior most economic executive says-“There’s nothing that tells me that Powell should step down right now. He’s been a good public servant." The media is making much out of DJT criticism of US central bank Fed chairman Powell. Yet Powell is one of the original appointments by DJT in 2018 and has done his job carefully and methodically, explaining to the public each step of the way. He correctly pointed out the role of supply chain in inflation during covid and was careful to calibrate his moves so that the Fed is ready to respond but does not overreact. His explanations were direct and his manner humble enough to get him respect. In fact DJT may have made one of his best appointments in Jay Powell who was nominated in the Senate by a vote 84-13 in 2018. Compared to his predecessors his style and work carefully monitoring inflation and unemployment to strike the right balance is far better than any of his predecessors going back to the 1980's, and complements the work done on trade for a level playing field by DJT.     ...

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The S&P speculative grade composite index shows that for the first time sine the crisis hit in October of 2009, high yield debt traded June 5, 2009 at 9.66 percentage point premium over comparable Treasurys. This is below the distressed debt benchmark of 10%, and shows how the credit markets are coming back to normal. High yield issuers, who pay a big premium over Treasurys to sell debt have had to pay at spreads which reached apeak of 17.54% in December according to S&P data. The retailing and auto sectors were the hardest hit in 2008. Merril Lynch has its own index which has not dropped below 10%, and which peaked at 22 percentage points in December. On June 4, Merrill's index was at 11.01 percentage points. The last time Merrill's index went above 10% was in 2002, and in 2006 before the crisis the index was at 2.41 percentage points.

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High Tariffs on Chinese solar panels imported into US from Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand. The Commerce Department announced high tariffs after an investigation in 2024 when American makers of solar panels accused Chinese companies of flooding the market with subsidized cheap solar panels, even below cost of production. A Korean solar panel maker in Arizona and other companies had brought this up. Tariffs range from 41% to 375%. Shows US is serious about taking action.

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A large surge in funds raised for the campaign in July 2012 has helped presidential candidate Romney.