Toyota To Cut North American Production

The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota (TM) will cut 250 temporary workers and halt production at its US and Canadian plants for 2 extra days in December.

The company is confronting its first stateside sales decline in over a decade. Earlier this month, the company cut its full-year profit outlook by over 50%. It expects to sell 2.2 million vehicles this year, down from 2.62 million in 2007.

For more, see Professor Jeff Macke’s Still Short on Yahoo, Toyota - But a Diehard Dollar Long.

From the Bull Pen: Consumer staples continue to be a favorite in this market. Bulls can look to General Mills (GIS) for an upside play. Sell stops can be set below $63.

From the Bear Cave: Toyota has resistance near $64 in the short term. Bears playing the downside can set a buy stop above that level.


Quick Check Around the World

Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng -0.77%, Nikkei -0.66%, Sensex -1.83%, Taiwan -0.49% and Shanghai 6.04%.

Glancing towards Europe, we see the CAC -2.49%, DAX -3.67%, FTSE -2.60%,

As of 8:15 a.m. EST, S&P Futures are trading -15 to 851, and Nasdaq futures are -22 to 1151.


A Look At Commodities

Crude oil is trading -0.33 to 54.06. Gold is +4.10 to 736.80. Silver is -0.130 to 9.420 and copper is -3.000 to 162.50.

The dollar index is -0.302 to 87.074.


On the Radar

Economics

07:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
08:30 Consumer Price Index
08:30 CPI ex Food and Energy
08:30 Housing Starts
08:30 CPI Core Index
08:30 Building Permits
02:00 FOMC Minutes

Click here for the full trading radar.

Good luck today!
 

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