Global CIO Friday Update: Hair On A Wooden LegGlobal CIO Friday Update: Hair On A Wooden Leg

Best Buy Sees Jump In Mobile, PCs, And Flat-Panels; Plus, Ethel Merman Kicks It—Live! While it might not be time just yet to break out your Ethel Merman version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses," Best Buy shares were trending up on an analyst report that the retailer is seeing strong sales of mobile phones, computing devices, and flat-panel TVs. Referring to Piper Jaffray analyst Mitchell Kaiser, SeekingAlpha.com reports that various fundamentals are looking better for the big retailer: "We have confidence in our increased Q2 estimates as our checks indicate an accelerating comp trend as the quarter progressed, driven by strength in mobile phones, computing and flat panel TVs," he writes. Kaiser thinks market share has improved from Q1, "helping to offset much of the broader industry weakness." Sounds good for Best Buy. And speaking of Ethel Merman and stuff that sounds good—or not so much—you haven't really lived til you've heard Ethel Merman's live disco version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses": check it out!. But, caveat emptor.

India Rises As Global Automobile Power Audi plans to begin building SUVs in India next year, and Fiat says it will source $1B worth of auto parts from India in the coming year. The Audi deal is part of the German car company's plan to invest about $500 million in India, with the first SUVs expected to roll off the line in March 2010. And Fiat says it will double the volume of auto parts it sources from India next year: "Of the $1 billion, about $700 million would be for Fiat India Automobiles, its joint venture with Tata Motors, and the remainder for exports," [Fiat] said. It planned to source $400 to $500 million of components from India in 2009," reported the Economic Times of India.

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