There was a lot of encouraging news this week, with last month's U.S. auto sales indicating the market may have finally bottomed out.

Most carmakers scored marginal gains against last year - a big deal in a year that has seen double digit declines for months.

At the same time, the numbers are being compared against last October which was when the stock market crashed. And that setback followed months of declining sales due to the hike in oil prices to $147 a barrel and gas prices to $4 a gallon.

So it will be interesting to see what November brings in terms of auto sales.

Most companies scored modest gains - Nissan up 5.6 percent, General Motors up 4.7 percent, Ford up 3.0 percent, Toyota up less than one percent and Honda flat, according to The Associated Press.

Chrysler's sales were down 30 percent and new owner, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and his team, spent about six hours on Wednesday explaining their game plan to industry insiders and the media in Detroit. By all reports, very businesslike and no big changes or surprises for a couple of years at least.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Group's October sales were up a whopping 49 percent! But even there, a note of caution should be sounded. Hyundai's October U.S. sales were about 33,000 compared to GM's 178,000 and Toyota's 152,000. A smaller base always distorts the percentage change, up or down.

Overall good news, certainly, but don't break out the champagne just yet.

Peter C.T. Elsworth