NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 26, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it views Ford Motor Co.'s (B+/Positive/--) third-quarter earnings, announced today, as consistent with our positive outlook on the company's rating. The automaker announced a consolidated pretax profit of $2.1 billion for the third quarter, up more than $1 billion year over year. Ford's global automotive operations produced nearly $1.3 billion in pretax profit in the quarter, while the financial services unit, including Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, posted $761 million in pretax profit. The operating results have benefited from significant improvements in profitability in North America in particular, and the North American pretax margin was 9.8%. Ford generated a good automotive operating-related cash flow of
