As I noted in another thread this bounce (US Stock market rally) has more to do with the tactics (option engineering) associated with this fiasco: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aA7K2PJ47n5M&refer=g...

And the liars have been lined after the close to explain it away.

Stephen

You have to understand that Porsche took over VW a number of years ago and the regulations (The Saxony shareholding and compulsory acquisition rules) set this situation up.

You would have to admit that that Porsche have balls though, They are planning to be the 'Last man standing' in this crisis, Strangely Toyota are more exposed to the US (via their SUV investments) than VW are, Porsche don't even build their SUV (subcontracted to Poland) and VW have a bevy of small cars to release in the US, Many are saying now the US Govt won't be able to save Ford or GM, though their failure could reduce the US GDP by 5%, which may be what the US needs.

Neven

Neven911

I have to defer to your belief and knowledge that integrity prevailed in this situation.

Nevertheless, the release of BP's profits report yesterday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/28/oil-oilandgascompanies
and the staggering revelation, reported by some a few years back , that there were rumours they (BP) diverted crude product from Rotterdam to Singapore to force up valuations of their expiring long OTC petroleum derivative positions, makes me skeptical.

Stephen

I'm pretty sure you are right about BP, Big Oil is known for its greed (but isn't that what you want if you are a stakeholder?), but also consider this "Big Oil" ie IOC's control less than 10% of the worlds oil, So this hammering on about the greedy oil companies is a convenient demonization. Bush knows this, Brown knows this so why is it not common knowledge? It is much easier to have a punching bag than actually deal with the real situation isn't it?

BP et al have historic low production cost assets, hence they would be creaming it in the last period, so what?, we should be more concerned that the 'marginal' cost of oil production, that which has to replace these declining fields (oil fields decline at a rate of around 5% per year) is now estimated to be $70-$90 per barrel, So the short term gain of low oil prices will quickly cycle into low oil availability.

What is also interesting is the number of nation states (Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia?) that risk running budget deficits if Oil stays at $65USD, these are the worlds biggest exporters.

Neven

Further to Stephen's post at the top of the page, it looks like the Germans have given the hedge funds a $20billion hiding. Ouch!!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jeremy-warner/jeremy-...

try this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6PamCQ6zw