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Ryder System (NYSE: R) today announced it is dropping its forecast for third-quarter earnings per share from $1.20-$1.23 to $1.12-$1.14. The company also revealed that third-quarter results will be impacted by a $10 million sale of property, more than offset by a $12 million charge for restructuring, the benefits of which won't be realized until 2008. Its end-of-year projections are now for EPS of $4.10-$4.15, down from previous expectations of $4.30-$4.35, but still above 2006 figures.

Ryder blames general softening of demand beyond the housing sector for declining revenue in its Fleet Management Solutions segment, which accounts for about 60% of its revenue. The company has a fleet of more than 140,000 vehicles and employs almost 30,000 people.

One area to keep an eye on with Ryder is its Supply Chain Solutions sector, which accounts for 32% of revenue. This sector is closely tied to the automobile industry -- in fact, GM (NYSE: GM) accounted for 40% of Ryder's SCS revenue in 2006. Slack times at GM could show up on Ryder's bottom line.

Though the United Autoworkers Union's threat to strike Chrysler LLC tomorrow got the headlines today, the union's biggest challenge ahead lies with Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F).

As Daniel Howes of the Detroit News points out, Ford is hoping to get a better deal than the agreement the UAW recently reached with General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) because of the automaker's "more dire financial circumstances." UAW head Ron Gettelfinger has spent most of his career representing Ford workers and is close with Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., with whom he's been speaking with almost daily for the past month, according to Howes.

Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally is well-regarded on Wall Street but he certainly has his work cut out for him. Earlier this year, the Dearborn, Mich. automaker unveiled a major restructuring which included the elimination of 25,000 to 30,000 jobs. Pundits including Howes say more job cuts and plant closings are possible. Last year, Ford posted a record deficit of $12.6 billion.

Whether the close ties between Gettelfinger and Bill Ford will help avoid labor trouble remains to be seen. For now, the UAW is focusing its attention on Chrysler.

A Chrysler spokeswoman told the AP that the automaker remained optimistic about a settlement. The timing of the UAW's ultimatum was interesting considering that five U.S. Chrysler plants were going to be shut down anyway for about two weeks starting today because of lower demand for Chrysler products.

The short interest for the NYSE is out for the second half of September. The NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) actually showed a small increase in the total shares short on the NYSE: the September 28 settlement short interest was 11,878,834,897, above the 11,841,051,529 reading of September 14, 2007. This represents 3.1% of the total shares outstanding.

The raw truth is that this is actually a very small gain of only just over 37,000,000 shares. But it follows what was a large drop from mid-August to mid September as mid-August was in the midst of the market malaise with 12,466,511,521 shares listed as being short. Just at the end of last month I had noted that short selling Internet stocks showed mixed results. There had previously been a large drop in major banking stock short interest, but we also showed how housing and retail stocks had been under short selling pressure.

You can see the full list of the September 28 settlement date short stocks at the site, but here are the top 10 (with short interest):

• iShares Russel 2000 Index (NYSE: IWM) 258,152,676
• Ford Motor (NYSE: F) 177,621,324
• Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) 84,338,020
• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) 76,350,102
• Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) 76,100,928
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) 65,851,636
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) 64,874,719
• Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) 62,259,216
• Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) 57,387,316
• General Motors (NYSE: GM) 56,515,532

The newly created Do-Over and Do-Again (or Do-Do) Award was recently bestowed on the Ford Motor Company's (NYSE: F) Taurus sedan and Taurus X wagon. Christopher Jensen, who reviews cars for The New York Times, invented the not-quite-complimentary award just for the Taurus, in recognition of Ford's effort to recover from the missteps the company made introducing the Ford 500 in 2005. According to Jensen, "The Do-Do recognizes the automaker who tries the hardest to compensate for not having taken full advantage of the opportunity when originally introducing a vehicle."

Jensen has some nice things to say about the new Taurus, which is really a revised 500. It's roomy, comfortable, handles nicely and has lots of storage space. The problem is that Ford did not offer the current version of the car right off the bat. Jensen argues that if the 2008 Taurus had been the 2005 500, it might have been a great and popular car. But Ford blew it, rushing an inferior version to market, then paying the price with lackluster sales and now this confusing new/old name. In the meantime, competitors including Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM), Honda Motor Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) and General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) have produced new generation sedans that are at least as good if not better.

As Michael Fowlkes noted earlier this week, Ford saw a 21% decline in U.S. sales in September. The Taurus did even worse, selling 30% fewer cars than the 500 did a year ago. This is a shame, since by all reports the new Taurus is a solid car. The engineers did a good job designing it, and the auto workers do good work building it. The problem, I suspect, lies in poor planning at the corporate level. Years of neglecting cars in favor of SUVs is still hurting the American automakers, and perhaps Ford worst of all.

The cornerstone of GM's (NYSE: GM) contract with the UAW is that the company will fund a health benefits pool run by the big union. The car giant will probably move $30 billion into the pool and will part with a $50 billion employee healthcare liability. In turn, GM will guarantee a certain number of jobs.

That deal may not work for Ford (NYSE: F) or for Chrysler for that matter. The No.2 US car maker needs expense relief now. Its sales keep falling, and were off over 20% in September. Bloomberg quotes one expert who sums up the issue nicely: ``Ford isn't interested in job guarantees'' as the company shrinks, said Gary Chaison, a labor professor at Clark University.

Ford's problems are acute. While it may want to get health and pension liabilities off of its balance sheet, it still needs to cut is North American costs by a large amount. GM's sales seem stable, but Ford's past focus on pick-ups and SUVs has put it in a bad spot. As fuel costs have risen, these vehicles have become less attractive. Without large cuts in workers, its North American operations could continue to lose billions of dollars a year.

The chances for a strike in Detroit are rising again. But, this time the target will probably be Ford.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner in 24/7 Wall Street.

Despite trading near the flat line throughout most of yesterday's session ahead of this morning employment report, U.S. stocks seem poised to start higher today. But, of course, this can change at 8:30 a.m. when the report is released. On the off chance that the report repeats last month's performance, stocks may do a 180. A big surprise on the upside -- too strong a number -- may have a similar effect. By and large, however, the report will likely strengthen the Street's belief that the Federal Reserve may cut rates again at the end of the month and stocks will continue their recent run.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks finished with slight gains without much volatility, expectant of today's data. The Dow industrials finished up 6.26 points or 0.04%, the S&P 500 gained 3.25 points or 0.21% and the Nasdaq composite was up 4.14 points, or 0.15%.

At 8:30 a.m., then, the September jobs report is due. According to Briefing.com, non-farm payroll is expected to increase by 100,000 after the surprise 4000 decline in August. AP reports of expectations around 115,000 according to a Thomson/IFR survey and MarketWatch pegs it at 113,000. Economists believe that to get a real picture of the economy, this number isn't enough and investors should examine the breakdown of the job gains, specifically the growth in private-sector payrolls. Economists are looking for job gains of about 60,000 in private sector.
The unemployment rate is expected to tick up in September to 4.7% from 4.6% in August.
Hourly earnings is forecast to increase 0.3%, same as the month before.

Adding to this early morning stock futures gain may be consumer confidence. Following the Fed's rate cut, confidence in the economy revived with the RBC Cash Index rising to 80.6 from September's 71.1 reading. People feel better about the country's prospects of surviving a painful credit crunch and housing slump.

Overseas, Asian markets finished mostly higher with Hong Kong reversing yesterday's selloff. European markets were mixed ahead of data.

In corporate news:

Research In Motion Ltd. (NYSE: RIMM) reported second quarter results yesterday, posting double the revenue. The BlackBerry maker broke through the 10 million subscriber mark at the end of the second quarter and is expecting the growth in accounts to accelerate as the company targets the consumer market. RIM earned $287.7 million, or 50 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 1, inline with analysts' expectation and up from $140.2 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $1.37 billion from $658.5 million.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler LLC don't like the agreement General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) made with the UAW and are balking at the contributions required to create a union-run retiree health fund.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) said Thursday it will close a number of lighting plants in Brazil and the U.S., including six plants in Ohio, as part of a plan to restructure its consumer and industrial division, potentially cutting more than 1,400 jobs in the process.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Sprint Nextel Corporation's (NYSE: S) investors are unhappy, and led by the activist investor Ralph Whitworth, are voicing their displeasure with chairman and CEO Gary Forsee and the company's board, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• Merrill Lynch and Company (NYSE: MER) has fired several top executives as a result of the fallout from the credit crunch, The Financial Times reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Associated Press reported that members of the United Automobile Workers union at two General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) locals have approved the union's tentative contract agreement with GM, local union officials said Wednesday.
• Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) has been ordered by a Delaware court to provide confidential information about its stock-granting practices to a Louisiana-based police pension fund that has invested in Countrywide, reported the Los Angeles Times.

WEBSITES:

• According to the Register, Alvarion Ltd (NASDAQ: ALVR) and Redline Performance Products (NASDAQ: REDL) are considered the most likely WiMAX companies to be acquired by Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), but Airspan Networks (NASDAQ: AIRN), Aperto, and Navini have also been mentioned as possible acquisitions for the Internet networking giant.
• CNet.com reported that Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) is upgrading its e-mail system starting today with technology designed to block phishing, spam, and other fraudulent e-mails that look like they come from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and PayPal, but actually don't.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: General Motors, Green Mountain Coffee, Orexigen and Norsk Hydro were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Banc of America upgraded shares of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) to Neutral from Sell as they believe the agreement with the United Auto Workers union offsets a worsening outlook for sales.
  
• Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) to Outperform from Market Perform after a meeting with management as they believe shares offer a compelling buying opportunity at current levels based on their 2009 estimates.
  
• JMP Securities upgraded shares of Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OREX) to Strong Buy from Market Outperform as they believe the company's lead product candidates, Empatic and Contrave, could become front-line therapies for obesity due to improved durability of efficacy, increased safety and tolerability, and lack of addiction.
  
• Norsk Hydro (NYSE: NHY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup. The firm sees upside in the stock from the volume growth and further improvements in downstream operations.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Temple Inland (NYSE TIN) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  
• HSBC upgraded ENI SpA (NYSE: E) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Nollenberger raised shares of Symyx Technologies (NASDAQ: SMMX) to Buy from Neutral.

Before the bell: Stock futures lower ahead of services data

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless is launching the LG Voyager, a cell phone that looks Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone with a large touch screen, a camera and extensive multimedia, Web browsing and e-mail capabilities, but also has a QWERTY keyboard and a second, non-touch sensitive screen. The Voyager will of course be on Verizon Wireless' latest data network, providing much higher speeds than AT&T (NYSE: T) network that the iPhone runs on. The phone is promised to come out in time for the holidays.

Banc of America Securities upgraded General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) from Sell to Neutral, raising the target price to $37 from $25, following the UAW agreement. The analyst said the auto maker has shifted more of its medical costs to workers than he expected.

Following the vast toy recalls this year, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has warned sellers peddling recalled items that they could be kicked off the Web site and may have to forfeit their fees.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares are up some 0.8% in premarket trading after many wrote favorably about the stock yesterday, especially Silicon Alley Insider Henry Blodget, who, never failing to give bombastic valuations, said Google will go to $2,000 a share. Mind you, Hilary Kramer likes the stock as well. A lot.

The rumors yesterday were confirmed when Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) unveiled three new Zune models to better compete with Apple's iPod. The 80, 8 and 4 GB models are slimmer and the last two are flash memory-based. The new models include an FM radio tuner and the ability to wirelessly share songs with other Zune owners. The new Zunes are set to go on sale in mid-November for $249, $199 and $149 respectively.

Pfizer's troubles in Nigeria aren't over. A Nigerian judged that Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) retired chief executive and nine other officials should be in court to hear allegations that a drug experiment by the pharmaceutical giant led to deaths and disabilities among children.

While not exactly news regarding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the Wall Street Journal writes that the "Wal-Mart Era Wanes Amid Big Shifts in Retail." As Douglas McIntyre pointed out, the WSJ may be a little late on this one. While Wal-Mart has been struggling the past few years along with economic prosperity, it may be that Wal-Mart may recover if the economy slows.

September proved to be a tough month for Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) with the American auto maker posting a 21 percent decline in U.S. sales. While Ford took a steep hit to U.S. sales, its American counterpart General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) was able to perform better, showing flat sales growth for the month.

While the large drop is a tough pill to swallow, Ford states that it is in line with the company's expectations that it set out at the start of the year. The auto maker has been making a conscious effort to cut back on its sales to rental business's and it blames September's weakness mostly on this fact. All year the company has been reducing the sales volume to be used in rentals in an attempt to curtail the negative impacts this business segment can post to brand image and profits. The company had a 62 percent decline in sales to rental car fleets.

While the company's planned reduction in sales to rental car fleets can be explained away, what the company had not been counting on was a decline of 21 percent in sales of its popular F-150 pickup line. The company has been losing out in the truck market to newer pickups from GM and Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM).

Taking into account the weak September figures, Ford now has a total drop of 13 percent in sales through the first nine months of the year. The last time the company had a month where sales rose was all the way back in October 2006

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Under pressure to improve results, AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent of American Airlines, will prepay $545M in aircraft debt in the fourth quarter, cutting its annual interest expense by $25M, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• AT&T (NYSE: T) and India's Mahindra Telecommunications Private LTD have jointly applied for a unified access service license in India to provide wireless service, according to the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Times reported that the tentative contract between General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and the United Auto Workers union would allow GM to close two plants, and possibly shut down several other facilities, according to a copy of the agreement posted on the Internet.

WEBSITES:

• According to the BetaNews Web site, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) will reportedly hold an event today to launch the second generation of its Zune music players.
• Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) AdSense system that now reportedly allows people in Malaysia to make payments through Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) could become a "quasi bank," according to Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck, reported CNet.com.

U.S. stock futures are indicating this morning that the markets may continue yesterday's rally and start the session higher. After the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high yesterday, this morning investors will focus on housing and car and truck sales.

Yesterday, the start of the fourth quarter, U.S. stocks rallied with the Dow reaching record highs, on hopes of future rate cuts. Huge write downs announced by banks also helped sentiment as many were hoping these mean the credit crisis is coming under control and being dealt with. The Dow industrials gained nearly 192 points to close at a new record 14,0857, having hit an intraday high of 14,115. This 1.38% climb was matched by the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 with 1.46% and 1.33% respective advances of their own.

Only August pending U.S. home sales will be released today at 10:00 a.m. and sales are expected to show a further decline.
Car makers will report September car and truck sales with Honda the only manufacturer expected to show year-over-year gains, according to MarketWatch, but the overall industry is starting to stabilize after car makers experienced a tough summer in the showrooms due to the sluggish economic climate. According to the average estimates of seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey, however, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler are expected to post 15% and 5.9% declines in September U.S. sales and GM (NYSE: GM) a 3% increase.

Overseas, Asian markets rose to record highs with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closing above 28,000 points for the first time, Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia also reaching records. European stocks continued their advance today for the second day in a row, boosted by gains from the banking sector and solid results from British supermarket giant Tesco.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading yesterday after the company reported a a small loss in its fiscal first quarter and forecast lower-than-expected results for the current quarter. As Palm continues to struggle, rivals Apple and RIM's performance has been phenomenal. In the quarter Palm sold 689,000 Treos, up 21% from the year-ago period. It lost $841,000, or a penny per share, in the first quarter on revenue that rose to $360.8 million, 1% above the year-ago period. Excluding charges, Palm would have earned $9.7 million, or 9 cents per share, beating analysts expectations. But Palm also issued a weak outlook.

TD Bank Financial Group (NYSE: TD) said it will acquire Commerce Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: CBH) in a stock-and-cash deal valued at $8.5 billion.

Yahoo Inc. (NYSE: YHOO), in yet another attempt to gain back some market share from rival Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) in internet search, has retooled its online search engine to make it more helpful and engaging.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is in talks to acquire Navteq, according to people familiar with the matter.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Acxiom Corporation's (NASDAQ: ACXM) private-equity suitors are negotiating to break off the $2.25B buyout, according to people familiar with the situation.
• United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract with the Teamsters union that lets UPS withdraw from the union's pension fund, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The Financial Times reported that the deal to transfer General Motors Corporation's (NYSE: GM) healthcare obligations to a union-managed trust could make the United Autoworkers union GM's largest shareholder.

OTHER PAPERS:

• British energy giant BP (NYSE: BP) is searching for a new chairman, hiring a headhunting firm to search for a replacement for the current chairman, Peter Sutherland, reported the U.K. Times.

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U.S. stocks will likely start the fourth quarter mixed as subprime mortgage woes seem to haunt markets. If anyone thought these problems just magically disappeared, they got a jolt of reality today when UBS warned of a massive writedown due to subprime mortgage complications. Not sooner after that, Citigroup said it will also see a writedown of $1.4 billion pretax expects third-quarter due to subprime mortgage-backed securities. Economic data will continue to trickle in this week, allowing investors analyze possible outcomes for the economy and future Federal Reserve policy. Mostly, investors will await the employment report on Friday after last month's surprise decline.

On Friday, U.S. stocks closed a little lower on a day full of economic data that mostly came in line with expectations.

Economic reading today will include only the September index from the Institute of Supply Management at 10:00 a.m. The index, a survey of manufacturing executives, is expected to slip, although still be in the growth range.

While the dollar reached another record low against the euro, overseas, Asian stocks closed mixed and European stocks are trading lower following UBS's warning.

UBS (NYSE: UBS) announced will post a loss of up to $690 million in the third quarter from losses linked to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and a $3.4 billion writedown, cut 1,500 jobs and replace some top executives. UBS shares were down 2% overseas.

Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) announced it expects third-quarter profit to fall 60% from last year after $1.4 billion pretax writedowns for unsold debt it issued to finance corporate takeovers and big losses on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities. "It also expects losses of $1.3 billion pretax, net of hedges, on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities warehoused for certain securitizations, and $600 million pretax in fixed-income credit trading due to significant market volatility and the disruption of historical pricing relationships." Citigroup shares are down over 2% in premarket trading.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is in advanced talks to acquire navigation-software maker Navteq Corp. (NYSE: NVT), according the Wall Street Journal, but deal could still stumble. Nokia shares are down 1.5% in premarket trading, NVT up over 5%.

The tentative contract between General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and the United Auto Workers would allow GM to close a plant each in Michigan and Indiana and possibly shut down several other facilities.