Retailers Report 4.3% Bump in Sales; Toyota Changes Direction; Whirlpool Closes Two Factories; Brazil and Vietnam Come Together; GE Spin-Off; New Wachovia CEO; IAM Wants Fair Bidding; Oil Jumps Over $5 on Political Tension

• Retailers reported a 4.3% increase in sales in June gain as rebate checks again bolstered consumer spending. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT), BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. (BJ) and Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) were also among the best performers.

• Toyota Motor Corp. (ADR: TM) will start producing the hybrid Prius in the United States for the first time as the Japanese automaker adjusts its manufacturing operations to meet demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, the Associated Press reported. The company said Thursday it will start producing the Prius in late 2010 at a plant it is building in Blue Springs, Miss.

• Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) said yesterday (Thursday) that it will close two plants in an effort to streamline manufacturing, the Associated Press reported. Approximately 1,250 jobs will be lost as a result of the closings.

• Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Vietnam yesterday (Thursday) to enhance trade relations between the two nations. “Our bilateral trade remains too small compared with our capability,” Silva said through a translator at a joint news conference with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Minh Triet.

• General Electric Co. (GE) announced yesterday (Thursday) that it would spin off its GE Consumer & Industrial Group in an effort to bolster a sagging stock price, Bloomberg News reported. Two months prior, GE announced it was selling its well-known appliance division.

• Wachovia Corp. (WB) appointed Robert K. Steel as the new chief executive officer for the Charlotte-based commercial bank. He replaces Kenneth Thompson. Dealing with problem assets still on the bank’s balance sheet is “mission No. 1,” Steel said, DowJones reported.

• The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) wants Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to ensure that the reopened $35 billion tanker contract bidding for the U.S. Air Force is fair and even this time around, MarketWatch reported. “We are calling for aggressive oversight of the bidding process to make sure [The Boeing Co.’s (BA)] tanker is evaluated on a fair, level playing field,” said IAM General Vice President Rich Michalski. “We will not accept, nor should American taxpayers accept a process or an outcome that is only slightly less rigged than the initial round of bidding.”

• Crude oil for August delivery closed at $141.60 yesterday (Thursday) on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a jump of $5.60 a barrel, which recouped some of the previous days’ losses. “This market, losing $9 in two days, has really been oversold,” Zachary Oxman, senior trader at futures brokerage Wisdom Financial, told MarketWatch. “Geopolitical pressures mixed with the oversold condition are” driving up oil prices.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, July 11th, 2008