Phil's Stock World

It seems quite a few individuals noticed our post attempting to justify some very peculiar language in not just a certain Goldman Sachs Internet disclaimer, but also the strange wording prominently featured in critical GS-client agreements. One happened to be Goldman Sachs itself. We take this opportunity to present the response by Goldman Sachs’ spokesman Ed Canaday:

Dear Mr Durbin:

This is in response to your recent blog about our web site disclaimer. It is quite usual for websites to have disclaimers that refer to the monitoring of site usage. Most web sites, including yours we noticed, track usage by their visitors. This is primarily used for marketing and to help inform decision about enhancing content.

Your suggestion that we monitor our web site to facilitate front-running is untrue and offensive.

Sincerely

Ed Canaday
Vice President
Goldman, Sachs & Co.

____________________
Ed Canaday
Office: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx

We are happy to have caught the attention of Mr. Canaday. We believe this is the start of a great ongoing dialog. In that vein, Marla has replied to Mr. Canaday and Goldman Sachs, attempting to elaborate on some of the point that Ed did not touch upon. I present it below and am looking forward for Goldman’s forthcoming reponse:

Dear Mr. Canady:

Thanks for your quick reply.

For your future reference, the correct spelling for “Tyler” is “Tyler Durden.” (A re-viewing of “Fight Club” might be in order, but I know Goldman VPs probably rarely have time for such luxuries).

Obviously, we want to make sure we have our facts correct so I am pleased to see your email. Perhaps you can lay to rest some questions we have for the record:

1. Indeed, data use disclaimers are a common feature on most websites. Still, I think you will agree that where usage patterns are so directly linked with potential investment activity and customer intentions it is a bit unusual not to have a more explicit description of the kind of use Goldman intends here. This is particularly so where customer attitudes are concerned, and appearances are important. “Internal business purposes” is a bit vague in this respect, don’t you find? This seems unlike Goldman, usually a

GM and Toyota Missed again. As usual GM has an array of excuses although admittedly not the man in the moon, at least not yet. Please consider U.S. Auto Sales Slide as GM, Toyota Miss Estimates.

U.S. auto sales in June again failed to reach a 10 million annual pace as General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. fell short of analyst estimates, suggesting that the industry hasn’t started to rebound yet.

The annual rate fell to 9.69 million cars and light trucks last month, from 9.9 million in May and 13.7 million in June 2008, Autodata Corp. said. Total sales fell 28 percent, to 859,847 vehicles, the 20th straight monthly decline, the Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based company said.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had projected that the annual pace for June would climb above 10 million for the first time this year. GM blamed its worse-than-expected results on a new U.S. program to spur trade-ins of older vehicles, saying that kept some buyers on the sidelines. The company said its June 1 bankruptcy filing also scared off some customers.

Sales dropped 42 percent from a year earlier at Chrysler, 34 percent at GM and 32 percent at Toyota. Chrysler, which exited bankruptcy during June, cited an end to most sales to fleet customers such as rental companies for its drop.

Traffic ‘Fell Off’

“Traffic definitely fell off during the last 10 days of the month,” said David Fischer, owner of 30 auto franchises, mostly in Michigan and Florida. “In my opinion, it was because of consumers waiting to understand the cash-for-clunkers law.”

Ford’s deliveries fell 11 percent last month, according to a statement today from the Dearborn, Michigan-based company. The declines were 23 percent for Nissan and 30 percent for Honda.

The sales decline for this year’s first six months was the worst since at least 1976, according to Bloomberg data.

Tight credit is still holding down sales and may reduce the annual total by as many as 2 million vehicles, GM’s DiGiovanni said. “There’s no question credit is hurting our market.”

Ford, passed by Toyota in annual U.S. sales in 2007, outsold the Toyota City-based company for the third month in a row and leads the Japanese automaker for this year’s first half.

Ford’s total sales fell

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