For Sotheby's, the Ferrari auction is an intriguing move, given that the house's entire auto department jumped ship a decade ago and defected to Bonhams.

FORBES: Putting The Hammer Down At Ferrari

Big delivery companies including UPS are seen as gauges of the economy because of the wide range of products they ship, everything from auto parts to consumer electronics.

NPR: UPS 1Q Profit Rises 7 Percent

Today it's not uncommon for suppliers to build large chunks of an automobile--a complete dashboard or a front-end module, say--at their own factories, then ship them to the auto plant for final assembly.

FORBES: Other people's money

Organizations can ship a Chromebook straight to an end user and auto-enroll and provision their network settings, apps and other policies the first time they log into the Web.

FORBES: You��d have to be crazy not to.