Credit Suisse expects light vehicle sales to run at an annualized pace of between 10-10.3 mln units in Dec. Unit volume should fall by about the same amount. Firm sees GM down 34%-35% vs like-2007. Mkt share should bounce sequentially, to as high as 23%, up from 20.5% in Nov. The forecast sequential increase in share is driven in part by the diminishing payback effect from a prior incentive event, and in part by higher light truck mix. firm sees Ford (F) sales down in a range of 32%-34% vs Dec 2007, with market share of around 15%. That would be a modest decline in share vs Nov, but an increase from F's year-ago share of 14.0%. All else equal, GMAC's increased access to funding could increase GM's sales by several hundred thousand units in 2009. The extra contribution from those units is not enough to change firm's view on GM, which is likely to ask the UAW and bondholders to sacrifice a combined $34 bln in value as part of a Government-sponsored balance sheet restructuring; this will crowd out just about all of the existing equity value.

WSJ reports the SEC recommended against suspending fair-value accounting rules, instead suggesting improvements to deal with illiquid markets and reducing the number of models used to measure impaired assets. In a 211-page report to U.S. lawmakers, as expected, the agency's staff Tuesday definitely recommended that fair-value and mark-to-market not be eliminated or suspended. "The abrupt elimination of fair value and market-to-market requirements would erode investor confidence," the report said. The banking lobby has argued that financial institutions have been forced to write off as losses still-valuable assets because the market for them had dried up, creating a spiral of write-downs and asset sales. The report said that staff found no evidence to suggest that the accounting rules had played a significant role in the collapse of U.S. financial institutions. "While the application of fair value varies among these banks...in each case studied it does not appear that the application of fair value can be considered to have been a proximate cause of the failure," the report said. Additionally, the SEC suggests that the Financial Accounting Standards Board narrow the number of accounting models firms can use to assess the impairment for financial instruments.

WSJ reports although New York has been at the epicenter of the financial crisis, housing prices in the city haven't dropped nearly as fast as cities elsewhere. The same is true of the financial hubs of Boston and Charlotte, N.C. But that doesn't mean these cities are skirting the worst of the housing bust. Rather, markets where price declines have been slightest may be in worse shape, because prices still have further to fall before enough buyers step in to bring housing activity to normal. Meanwhile, heavy foreclosure activity in hard-hit areas like Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Diego are bringing prices into equilibrium. Those cities may be closer to a turnaround.

As mentioned at 8:58, the Oct Case-Shiller Composite came in at -18.0% vs -17.9% consensus. Data through October 2008, released today by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, with 14 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline and 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10% versus October 2007. Following the lead of the 14 metro areas described above, the 10-City and 20-City Composites set new records, with annual declines of 19.1% and 18.0%, respectively. "The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March, 2004 levels." says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Both composite indices and 14 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. As of October 2008, the 10-City Composite is down 25.0% from its mid-2006 peak, and the 20-City Composite is down 23.4%. In October, we also saw three new markets enter the ‘double-digit' club. Atlanta, Seattle and Portland are reporting annual rates of decline of 10.5%, 10.2% and 10.1%, respectively. While not yet experiencing as severe a contraction as in the Sunbelt, it seems the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic South is not immune to the overall demise in the housing market." Phoenix remains the weakest market, reporting an annual decline of 32.7%, followed by Las Vegas, down 31.7%, and San Francisco down 31.0%. Miami, Los Angeles, and San Diego were close behind with annual declines of 29.0%, 27.9% and 26.7%, respectively. Cleveland and Denver were the only markets that showed any improvement in its year-over-year returns compared to last month's report.

WSJ reports the co consolidation in China's steel industry took a step forward Tuesday with the announcement of a merger between three major producers to create one of the country's biggest listed steel makers by output. Shenzhen-listed Tangshan Iron & Steel said it plans to merge with Chengde Xinxin Vanadium & Titanium and Handan Iron & Steel, both of which are listed in Shanghai, through share swaps. The merger of the three cos, which share the same parent company, fits with the government's push to make its steel makers bigger and stronger to improve the sector's efficiency, as well as to reduce pollution and energy consumption, particularly at a time of slowing economic growth amid the global financial crisis.