A change is taking place in the world of commodity metals, and that change is now being accelerated by none other than JPMorgan Chase (JPM). News reports are indicating that Chase has purchased up to 50% of all the London Metals Exchange warehoused copper. It is interesting, yes, but what does this mean when viewing the big picture?

It would seem that the intrinsic wisdom of "physically holding" commodity metals is finally being realized. Copper, for all its earthy commonality and utility, holds great sway over the economies of the world. Copper is a near universal necessity in the movement of electricity, water, and a host of pressurized gasses. Without immediately available copper, life as we know it would most probably come to a sudden, screeching halt.

Today got a boost from a less-bad GDP that came in as a revised 1.6%. Slow growth, but not as slow as what was expected. Even an overdue warning from Intel did not manage to be bad enough to stall the market recovery. After Ben Bernanke said he'd do whatever it took to maintain a recovery, stocks and oil rose, and some of the air came out of the bond bubble.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,151.18 +165.37 (1.66%)
S&P 500 1,064.60 +17.38 (1.66%)
Nasdaq 2,153.63 +34.94 (1.65%)

Top Analyst Call

Ford (F) had itself quite a month of March overseas, as the company's auto sales increased 16.1% compared to a year ago. The March increase was the tenth straight for the American automaker, driven higher by sales of the company's Fiesta model. The Ford Fiesta saw sales of 68,800, which was the highest monthly sales for any Ford model on record in a single month across the pond.

Ford's market share increased 10.4%, which marks a 12-year high and is Ford's highest market share since August 1998. Ford was the top-selling brand in the UK, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Turkey during March. It should be noted that March sales are traditionally strong in Europe, as registration plates change. Ford saw 72,700 new registrations during the month, 16.4% better than a year ago.

Auto retailer CarMax Inc. (KMX) will be reporting its fourth quarter numbers tomorrow, and Wall Street is looking for further signs that the struggling auto industry is continuing to rebound.

Going into tomorrow's earnings release Wall Street is expecting to see the company show earnings of $0.25 per share. During the same period last year the company reported earnings of $0.17.

Nissan (NSANY) is jumping in on the electric car revolution, producing a car called the Leaf. It's an all-electric car that seats five. The good news for Nissan is that this car will face little in the way of competition; no other electric car seats as many passengers. Nissan is planning to make 500,000 of the Leaf in North America, Japan, and Europe by 2012. The company also announced that 56,000 of the Leaf are on order in the United States; but, this could be the number of dealers ordering the car, not individuals. The company also expects this electric car to be a popular choice for a no-emission fleet vehicle (like a taxi).

With so much uncertainty surrounding the recent recalls by Toyota Motor Company (TM), the House committee that is investigating the recalls has asked the company's President to come and testify before it.

Over the past several weeks there have been more reported deaths resulting from sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles, and the House committee's chairman announced his desire to have Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, to come in for testimony.

The General Motors' board is starting its two-day meeting today, and it is believed that the company is going to decide what will happen to the German Opel automobile unit. There are other topics to be discussed, including a new marketing campaign and preparation for a public offering of stock so the automaker can repay the U.S. taxpayers.

Nevertheless, the major news will be the company's decision about Opel -- what should General Motors do? Is it smart for the company to give up a portion of its market share in Europe in order to stabilize American sales? Reuters examined several scenarios General Motors might face.

Can investing and collecting go hand-in-hand? Yes -- especially if you are collecting coins, stock certificates, bank notes, or other rare items of value. Larry Schutts, an expert in investment-related collectibles, will periodically review items of interest from his collection and answer your questions here.

The automobile has had a profound influence on the evolution of American culture. Our freedom to move from place to place in private vehicles is a primary factor in determining where we live, the way we work, and how we socialize. The development of the automotive industry followed the usual pattern. Initial efforts were privately funded, but subsequent improvements touched every aspect of the manufacturing process and ultimately required more sophisticated levels of financing. That led to a wide variety of corporate stock offerings. The old certificates are generally available at reasonable prices and are particular collector favorites. The appreciation levels associated with many of them makes them popular with the investment crowd, too. Compare twelve-year price gains of the specimens discussed below with advances in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+10%) and the S&P 500 Index (+2%) over the same period.

Just a few weeks ago we were wondering whether falling gas prices meant that Americans would be driving more. The data says: no. (Although the data is, admittedly, nearly two months delayed.) Both gasoline consumption and vehicles miles travelled have fallen every month over the past several months; the miles travelled figure is down 11 months in a row and 4.4% in September.

In the Wall Street Journal, Joseph B. White points out how the cycle is so far following that of the late 1970s and early 80s; gas gets expensive, Americans embrace high-mileage vehicles, less driving, and start thinking about alternative energy sources; demand falls and prices go back down; and then Americans return to their old ways. And complicating this situation is that gas tax revenue goes down when gas consumption goes down; so infrastructure funds dry up. Paradoxically, transportation officials are stuck in the not-so-virtuous cycle: if they encourage behavior that's good for the planet, they'll reduce their income and roads will suffer.

White asks, will we be headed straight back to "trance" state? Will automakers, having embraced development of electric-powered vehicles and other green options, give up in the face of the reality that it's just as cheap to drive a guzzler? Will Americans remember how much they loved their Sunday afternoon drives in the Excursion? Either way, the fallout is complicated.

I really believe that Americans will stay in the shock state. Many of my friends have made significant investment in the low-car lifestyle, buying family bikes and developing new routines around energy conservation. This time, it's not really about the money; I started my car-free lifestyle before prices started rising and the consensus seems to be that we're doing it for the health of the planet and our own health; those values are not to be unpacked for short-term gain. I believe in (some of) the American people. Now our government will have the hard choice of whether to raise gas taxes or find another way to fund the infrastructure shortfall.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) did not have a great third quarter. If you check out the motorcycle-maker's press release, you'll see that management puts all the bad data right in the lead paragraph, with no spin whatsoever. Revenues: down almost 8% to $1.4 billion. Net income on a dollar basis: down 37% to about $167 million. The bottom line on a diluted per-share basis: down close to 34%, coming in at $0.71. Down, down, down.

And is it surprising? No. Consumers aren't really looking for that second chopper these days, I don't think. Although Harley-Davidson is built to leverage the midlife crisis that many men go through when they reach middle age, I doubt that the crisis many middle-aged men are going through currently is purely life-related. I'd be willing to bet it is a crisis based on a hellishly large loss of confidence in the security of their golden years fueled by the declining total value of their retirement accounts. In a world where companies like Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are having a hard time moving inventory, you can bet that it's not a walk in the park for a manufacturer of motorcycles.

Well, I can't predict when the market will turn, or when Toyota's (NYSE: TM) stock will once again be in favor, but I can tell you that I won't be buying its shares here. According to this article, Toyota may not do as well as it planned in terms of sales in 2008 in the U.S. market. The company told investors that year-over-year growth in the number of cars sold is now in question. In 2007, Toyota moved 2.62 million automobiles in the U.S., and for 2008, Toyota wanted to sell 2.64 million cars.

I probably don't need to say it, but I will: considering the negative trends in oil futures, gas prices, consumer confidence, inflation, recession potential, and the housing industry, the fact that the stocks of Toyota, General Motors (NYSE: GM), and Ford (NYSE: F) are having a really tough time right now is not surprising. Toyota's stock closed down 2% on the news of the sales struggle at the end of Tuesday's trading session. That's not a particularly horrible downward move, and the stock is still a few bucks above its 52-week low, but I think there's a chance the stock will take out that low at some point.

Investing in the auto industry might be a dicey move here. Sure, you could pick up some bounces, but being early in this space could prove depressing for even the heartiest investor. Auto sales might get worse before they get better (they're pretty bad now as it is), so I'll stay away from Toyota and this sector.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned here; positions can change at any time.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) is getting squeezed by its own rising cost of borrowing money to finance consumer vehicle purchases, weakening consumer demand spreading across the board, declining customer traffic into sales locations, lower gross profit margins per vehicle, and rapidly accelerating declines in the resale prices of trucks, SUVs and other gas hogs already parked on its lots. All these factors mean that CarMax 1Q FY2009 EPS dropped to $0.13, down 55% from 1Q FY2008.

Don't look for improvement in any external factors in the near future. Nevertheless, CarMax senior management has decided to continue with its aggressive expansion program in order to gain market share across the country. Thus far, CarMax has opened six new used car superstores in 2008 with plans to open eight more. The company is also testing a program to centralize its appraisal and car buying programs into five car-buying centers spread throughout the country. CarMax hopes to obtain more of its used vehicles for resale directly from consumers rather than wholesale auto auctions. The profit margin is higher for CarMax on vehicles obtained directly from consumers.

CEO Tom Folliard has suspended guidance for the rest of FY2009 given so many broad-based economic uncertainties, including continued uncertainty in the subprime lending sector. CarMax's income from financing declined $27 million to $9.8 million in 1Q FY2009. The company is facing higher funding costs and higher loss assumptions. Presently the stock is trading right around $16, but will face an uphill battle just to stay in that price range.

The tightening of access to credit and higher costs associated with financing hit used car seller CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) right in the wallet. The company suffered a huge 48% drop in 4th quarter (4Q) net earnings, the vast majority of which stemmed from growing losses and increasing credit expenses in its auto finance unit. Thus unit posted a $1 million loss in 4Q2008, as compared to a $31.7 million profit in 4Q 2007. CarMax CEO Tom Folliard states the company is willing to tolerate such a loss in order to maintain in-house financing capabilities as a way to help boost sales and grow market share. But for how long? Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 earnings declined 8% as a result of the 4Q plunge.

CarMax is doing a whole lot of things right. 4Q sales increased 9% to just over $2 billion and FY 2008 sales increased 10% to $8.2 billion for used cars, to help counter a 20% decline in new car sales. Comparable store sales increased 3% and market share grew a bit. But in order to hit these numbers, CarMax dropped its gross profit per unit by $120. Average profit per unit sales was just over $2500.

"You can't sell what you can't finance" remains as true in the used car market as in real estate. Despite increasing costs for credit and financing, CarMax plans to continue its expansion plans, opening 14 used car superstores in 2009. Revenue is projected to grow in the 7-14% range based on modest growth in sales per unit volume. FY 2009 EPS is forecast at $0.78-$0.84. Used car retailers will remain in a much stronger financial position than new car retailers, at least for the foreseeable future.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) continues to sit in the pit of lagging sales and mountains of losses, even as some of its vehicles continue racking up awards and industry praise. In the 2007 Strategic Vision report on "most delightful" vehicles, the Detroit automaker won or tied for first in six categories -- the most of any automaker. So, why aren't Ford's sales reflecting all this jubilation? Hard to tell, but you may want to ask Toyota Motor Co. (NYSE: TM) about it.

Here are Ford's results from the six categories it won or tied for first in: Ford's Mazda3 (small car); Ford's Volvo V50 Wagon (medium multifunction); Ford 's Expedition EL (large SUV); Ford's Lincoln MKX (tied for near-luxury SUV); Ford's Land Rover Range Rover Sport (luxury SUV); and finally, the Ford F-250/350 (heavy-duty pickup).

So, it really was not all Ford's nameplate, but a bevy of its brands that helped it achieve record success here. Although rival automaker General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) garnered a decent awards showing as well, Ford took top honors across the board. But then again, 2008 automobile sales in the U.S. are expected to slow down to lead to a flat year of sales growth, so Ford won't be the only one seeing middling success this year in the U.S. new car market. At least it will have some awards to plaster on those showroom marketing plaques.

In the words of one reviewer, "it's hard to hide the disappointment" with the new 2008 Focus from Ford Motor (NYSE: F). While the car is "serviceable," it lacks the pizazz of the new compact cars from Honda, Mazda and Volvo. This is particularly annoying since Ford owns Volvo and has a stake in Mazda.

To make matters worse, there is a new Focus made by Ford in Europe which is earning rave reviews. But the American version of the car will not use the more advanced platform of the European model. It's the same old story: American consumers get the boring version of Detroit's global efforts. In this case, they even have to put up with cheesy fake air vents glued to the fender.

The good news is that Ford's new Sync electronics system is getting lots of positive reviews. As our own Brian White noted (Mr. Softy climbs in with Ford), Sync was developed with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and allows drivers to use their MP3 players and cell phones in the car with voice-activated software. The reviewer at The New York Times thinks it's a great system, going so far as to say that it is far better than BMW's iDrive. Our pals at AutoBlog agree, and they claim that Sync is actually helping Ford sell more cars. So even though the car itself may be dull, at least you'll have a cool computer system to keep you from noticing too much.