Perhaps it was bearish triangle then.
I started to trade index futures today for a while, pretty active day actually – 8 rounds behind with DAX index futures.
7/8 ended for positive results actually despite my day earlier forecast, that´s because those scenarios usually allways respond some even they fails later – particulary this is the case with contracting triangles since it can quickly come both, bullish or bearish. That´s why market traded as sideways zigzag all week also.
But I was actually at buy side all day with stocks: Bot Sprint Nextel (S) and SPPI from Nasdaq.
My BMW car factory long reported earnings today, doing pretty well it sounds since yieldings rockets up +400% but I don´t think it was so big surpize to the market. Most listed best brands in Europe doing extremely strong with fundamendals.
BMW Raises Dividend as Mini Countryman, 5-Series Propel Earnings to Record,
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world’s largest maker of luxury vehicles, reported 2010 profit that beat analysts’ estimates as customers snatched up the revamped BMW 5-Series and new Mini Countryman.
Net income last year surged more than 15-fold to 3.23 billion euros ($4.47 billion) from 210 million euros a year earlier, the Munich-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The figure surpassed the average estimate of 2.91 billion euros from 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue last year rose 19 percent to 60.5 billion euros.
BMW profit was fueled by a 36 percent increase in demand for the overhauled 5-Series line, which was expanded to include an extended version for China. The X1 compact sport-utility vehicle sold more than 100,000 units in its first full year, while the Countryman, the Mini brand’s first four-door model, sold 14,337 units since being introduced in September.
“BMW delivered a strong set of results,” said Jose Asumendi, a London-based analyst with Royal Bank of Scotland. “We now need to see BMW building off these results and profiting from its excellent product momentum.”
BMW, whose shares have risen 79 percent in the past 12 months, advanced as much as 1.36 euros, or 2.3 percent, to 56.94 euros and was up 0.1 percent as of 12:53 p.m. in Frankfurt trading, valuing the carmaker at 37.1 billion euros.
Record Dividend,
The company, which will hold its annual press conference on March 15, proposed a record dividend of 1.30 euros per common share, more than four times the 30 cents paid the previous year.
“We are extremely pleased with developments over the past financial year,” Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer said in the statement. “We now want our shareholders to participate in this success.”
Luxury-car makers are forecasting sales gains this year on higher spending in the U.S. and growing wealth in China, the two biggest car markets. Volkswagen AG (VOW), which owns Audi, is adding shifts to meet demand, Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said today in Wolfsburg, Germany.
BMW targets record deliveries of more than 1.5 million vehicles in 2011 on demand for the revamped X3 sport-utility vehicle and 6-Series coupe.
The auto unit’s 2010 earnings before interest and taxes was 8 percent of sales last year, compared with 8.7 percent at Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes and 9.4 percent at Volkswagen AG’s Audi. The company is targeting an Ebit margin of between 8 percent and 10 percent by 2012.
Fourth-Quarter Surge
Fourth-quarter net income rose to 1.2 billion euros from 163 million euros a year earlier as sales climbed 16 percent to 16.8 billion euros. BMW lifted its auto Ebit margin to 10 percent in the final three months of 2010, Mathias Schmidt, a company spokesman, said today by phone.
BMW shed about 800 jobs last year on early retirement, buyouts and natural attrition, the company said. BMW employs almost 95,500 people. BMW plans to hire about 1,300 people this year to support development, purchasing and sales, the company said Feb. 24.
The manufacturer of BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce vehicles is expanding its lineup to reach a goal of selling more than 2 million cars and SUVs annually by 2020. The carmaker has created the “i” electric-car sub-brand, which will start in 2013 with the i3, a battery-powered city car previously known as the Megacity Vehicle. The company is also planning the i8, a hybrid supercar based on the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept. The sub-brand’s models will have a blue ring around the BMW logo.
BMW is also pushing into transport-related services and is experimenting with short-term rentals as it seeks to appeal to consumers more interested in gadgets like Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone than cars. The company started a $100 million venture capital unit and invested in the MyCityWay Smartphone App.
