Watch Trademark Arises in Japan; July: The New March? Automotive Industry Pulls Off Triple-Play

iWatch Trademark Arises in Japan (Reuters)

In the Pacific Rim, imagine people trying to save the planet from alien beasts by creating giant, wearable computerized robots starting in July. Well, we may be a few aliens short of needing that technology today, but the geniuses at Apple are already at work on a wearable computer, albeit not the giant variety. In June, Apple applied for a trademark for iWatches in Japan. The patent confirms what industry insiders had believed for a while now, that the iWatch is Apple’s next “big idea.” However, the patent includes use for computers, peripherals and wristwatches. The question is, will the iWatch be the next “i”rage to sweep the planet, or the first post-Steve Jobs bust for the company? I’m sure investors will let us know.

July: The New March? (Bloomberg)

July’s bucking to lay claim to March’s motto, “In like a lion, out like a… “Well, we’ll see how it goes out, but the month is certainly starting out on the right foot as far as the markets are concerned. This morning in the Far East, the Nikkei rose 1.28 percent; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.78 percent; and the Schenzhen Composite Index moved ahead 2.11 percent. Europe is following suit, as of this writing, with England’s FTSE 100, Germany’s Dax and the STOXX 50 indexes all up slightly (less than one percent) for the day. We’ll see if U.S. investors follow the pride as the day unfolds.

Automotive Industry Pulls Off Triple-Play (Business News)

Ford, Honda and Mitsubishi welcomed the summer by pulling off a rare occurrence in the car selling game: a triple play… of recalls, that is. However, Honda will certainly lay claim to the MVP role in this trio — as it blows the other two away in terms of “Most Vehicles Pulled-back.” Honda’s recall of more than 680,000 vehicles to fix a “dangerous electrical problem” dwarfs Ford’s 12,500 and Mitsubishi’s 3,200 units recalled. While it’s hard to imagine the measly numbers causing any shareholder unease in the cases of Ford and Mitsubishi, the Honda problem may be a different story. This is actually the second recall of the Honda vehicles, after the first recall’s initial fix didn’t hold up. And with 143,000 of those vehicles sold in America, U.S. investors will hear plenty of negative news about the company and potentially spur many of them to sell their shares rather than ride out the latest recall repercussions.