Morning Market Roundup: Chrysler & Hyundai Post Strong Sales, Britain Goes After 'Immoral' Tax Avoiders

Here’s what’s important in the business world this morning:

Chrysler & Hyundai: Chrysler and Hyundai reported strong sales in November as Americans continue to buy cars and trucks at a brisk pace.

Chrysler's U.S. sales rose 14 percent last month, the company said Monday. It predicted that industry-wide sales would run at an annual rate of 15.3 million in November, making it the best month is more than four years. Hyundai said its sales rose 8 percent last month over a year earlier.

The automakers were the first to report sales Monday.

November sales, when calculated on an annual basis, are likely to be 15 million or more, the highest rate since March of 2008, according to LMC Automotive, a Detroit-area industry consulting firm. That's above the 14.3 million annual rate so far this year, even though November is normally a lackluster month due to cold weather and holiday anticipation.

Chrysler results were led by the Dodge brand, which saw sales rise 32 percent. The company says it sold 123,000 vehicles. Dodge Journey crossover SUV sales rose 77 percent.

South Korea's Hyundai reported sales of just over 53,000 for the month, led by the Sonata midsize car and the Elantra compact.

Britain: The British government said Monday it would spend more money catching tax avoiders, after a lawmakers' committee accused major multinational companies including Starbucks, Google and Amazon of "immorally" dodging tax.

Treasury chief George Osborne said the government was earmarking an extra £77 million pounds ($124 million) and hiring 100 new tax investigators to clamp down on "offshore evasion and avoidance by wealthy individuals and by multinationals." He said the investment would bring in an extra 2 billion pounds a year.

His announcement came after Parliament's public accounts committee said the government should "get a grip" on multinationals that exploit tax laws to move profits generated in Britain to offshore domains.

U.S. Futures: U.S. stock futures are rising ahead of reports on the manufacturing and auto industries.

Dow Jones industrial futures are up 43 points to 13,051. The broader S&P futures have added 5.6 points to 1,420. Nasdaq futures are up 15.5 points to 2,691.25.

November auto sales are likely to be the highest since March of 2008 when calculated on an annual basis, according to LMC Automotive, a Detroit-area industry consulting firm. Automakers report U.S. sales throughout the day on Monday.

And economists expect that U.S. manufacturing expanded in November, though at slower pace because of the effects of Superstorm Sandy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.