GM Sales Slump and a Few Other Notes

I haven't owned a GM since my 1983 Buick Regal.. and that was a decent car back in the day.

Here's the WSJ alert email:

GM said its U.S.light-vehicle sales fell about 17% in January, as both car and truck sales declined. Ford said its monthly sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. skidded 19%, while Toyota announced a 9.5% increase for the month, the latest indication that the Japanese manufacturer is overtaking Ford at No. 2 on the U.S. sales list.

Anheuser-Busch (BUD) posted earnings of 25c, a penny below estimates, but came through with better than expected revenue at $3.42 bln and the stock is higher . I'm actually a big BUD customer, not for their beers (since I don't drink alcohol because of all the medications I take) but because of all the money I spend each year at Busch Gardens! Looking forward to my next trip to Williamsburg in late March or early April.

Gold has taken a breather with the April contract trading up at the $663 range and crude at about $57.45. It is the fears that we are hurtling towards war with Iran that has in particular given gold a boost. Read this overseas perspective. I was talking to a college student last night about trading crude futures. His class team was planning to short on Friday and while that may not be a bad idea if market conditions warrant the short, I had advised him to keep an eye on geopolitical conditions and noted that many are not willing to be short going into the weekend. Time was, I would clear my crude positions long or short on Friday, but no more. I keep what I call a "pilot light" of long crude and gold positions open (about 15% of my usual positions) going into the weekend just in case of international
pyrotechnics.

AMZN earnings this evening. Can anyone find me a reason to close out my short position before the 4 p.m. close? If GOOG gets kicked around like dirt after tripling its bottom line, but deteriorating margins because of expansion; how does AMZN rise after earnings given its even loftier valuations with nothing terribly innovative? I am open minded enough, I could close out my position now at decent profit if given a good reason. I have looked through all the reports, can't find much to be positive about. If I'm wrong, I promise, I will order "Investing For Dummies" on Amazon.com.