WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Federal loans of $25 billion would help the U.S. auto industry meet tougher efficiency standards, General Motors Corp. chief Rick Wagoner told Congress Friday.

WARREN, Mich., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- General Motors officials say they will recycle or reuse waste at half of their worldwide factories by 2010.

NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A respite from record high gasoline prices failed to revive U.S. auto sales in August, automakers said Wednesday.

DETROIT, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. consumers may be surprised to find the prices of smaller cars rising as automakers attempt to find profits in a changing marketplace, analysts said.

DETROIT, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Once bitter foes, General Motors Corp. and the United Autoworkers Union are close partners as the company nears its 100th birthday, U.S. historians say.

Let's score the 2008 edition predictions first: US will enter a recession: Confirmed by NBER.  Check.Unemployment will rise north of 5%.  Check (bigtime)Housing will not turn in 2008.  Major check.The story in 2008 will be defaults on prime mortgages.  Check.Consumer lending practice stupidity exposed.  Check.Recreational sector (boats, etc) smashed.  Check.Government will[More...]

Wall Street rallied on the second to last trading day of the year as the financing arm for General Motors Corp. (GM: 3.80, +0.20 (+5.56%)), GMAC, was given a $5 billion loan from the government. The three major U.S. indices ended the day higher. The Dow Jones industrial average added 2.17% and closed with 8,668 points. The Nasdaq composite index was up 2.67% and closed with 1,550 points. While the S&P 500 index rose 2.44% and finished with 890 points. The Russell 2000 index went up 3.57% and closed at 482 points. Japan’s Nikkei225 stock average gained 1.28% in its final session of the year, while Britain’s FSTE 100 rose 1.7%.<span[More...]

The market seems to be finding the silver lining in some weak economic numbers this morning. The Chicago Purchasing Manager Index came in at 34.1 in December. This is a pretty low number, but slightly higher than expected, and it also represents the 5th consecutive monthly increase in the reading. In housing, the October Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed a drop of -18%, generally in-line with expectations. Nonetheless, the housing index is currently ralling +1.65%. Seperately, the number of companies asking and receiving money from the TARP plan continues to grow. The U.S. Treasury will purchase $5 billion in senior preferred equity from auto financing unit GMAC, and lend up to $1 billion to General Motors (GM) to participate in GMAC's rights offering. Oil prices rose above $40 yesterday, but are[More...]

Wall Street’s Ghosts of Christmas There’s a powerful force visiting Wall Street this year. Call it the ghost of Christmas past, present and future. And the worst thing is what it does to companies who accept its influence, even while the number of those falling under its spell continues to grow: General Motors (NYSE: GM), American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Bank of America (NYSE: <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3ABAC"[More...]

Tuesday December 23, 2008 Navivest Commercial finance company CIT Group (CIT) announced today that it has received preliminary approval to receive $2.33 billion from the government’s $700 billion financial bailout fund. CIT will receive the funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, which congress approved earlier this year, to help bolster the balance sheet of large banks and Wall Street investment banks. The TARP money was originally intended to purchase mortgage-backed securities and other such related debt that was weighing down the balance sheets of financial institutions and furthering the credit crisis. However, lots of different companies are lining up to get bailed out under the plan, with some non-bank financial companies actually[More...]