Business Channel 2006-12-11&13

Let's start with the General Motors, because it looks like GM is looking to spiff up its car-line by importing one of its most popular European models to this side of the Atlantic. Beginning in the third quarter of next year, GM's Opel Astra will be sold in North America under the auto 1 giant Saturn 2 brand. Other Opel models such as the Vectra or Corsa could show up at American Car Dealerships not long after. GM has sold around 1.2 million of the current Astra-generation in Europe since its launch in March 2004, making it the second best-selling hatchback in its class right behind Volkswagen's Golf model, Christina.

Uh-huh, so you know a lot of those around, so what does this mean for Saturn, Val?

Well, GM executives are being a little bit coy about this. But they did say that eventually, most of the Opel and Saturn lines are going to be shared. Opel is expected to benefit from the strong dealer 3 network developed by Saturn. But both brands will retain some of their unique models. A decision on the Astra US selling price is yet to be decided 4, but we can expect, let's say, between 20,000 and 100,000 vehicles per year to ship over here, Christina.

Alright, Val. Yesterday, you are telling us about a nasal spray to keep us thin, today, we are hearing about wine compound that could keep us young. You gotta tell me more about that.

Oh, doesn't this sound almost too good to be true?

It does.

Well, there are studies on one very specific compound in red wine. And it is indeed bumping up sales of the dark vino. This is an ACNielsen survey. And it found that red wine sales rose 8.3% in a recent four-week period. The surge of popularity is due to a series of studies about the anti-aging properties of resveratrol, which is a compound that is found in dark wines. The experiments were in mice though, and a human, but have to drink hundreds of glasses to get the same effect. But you know, that's how science does thing, they start with the mice, and then, then they eventually get to us.

Yeah, I could try that, I could try that! It sounds like with the chocolate, you have to eat a pound of it to get the benefits, the anti-oxidants. So, er, wrapping that up, how seriously can we take those lab-findings then?

Well, judging from the increase in sales, many people are taking them very seriously. There is a however, Nielsen hypothesizes that the rise is mostly due to good press from the lab studies. Moderate consumption of red wine has really already been proven to help lower cholesterol 5, and to reduce blood pressure. But even the Harvard researcher, who led the resveratrol study, said wine drinkers were going a bit overboard, and notes that the compound is found in lots of other food products including nuts. Nuts sales, by the way, Christina, slipped more than 1% this year.

Now, before I send it back to you. Let's take a quick look at how Wall Street fared today. A stronger-than-expected jobs report earlier today helped to revive stocks after a pretty choppy start, and offset 6 a weak reading on consumer sentiment. By the close, the Dow Industrials ended the day up, nearly a quarter of a percent, adding 29 points. The broader market and the S&P 500, the NASDAQ Composite finishing up almost half a percent higher.


spiff up vt.
make neat, smart, or trim