December is traditionally a slow month for auto sales. Most people are caught up with holiday shopping and tend to put off large purchases.

This year was different. December auto sales were higher for most makers, Toyota being the exception. Here are the numbers by company, as reported by CNNMoney:

A major business decision recently announced by General Electric Company (GE) involves the purchase of 25,000 electric vehicles from General Motors and others.

Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports that this is the largest order of ever of its kind. The new electric vehicles shall serve as part of GE's commercial fleet, and some of the units shall be made available for lease by consumers. According to the BusinessWeek report, 11,000 of the new units are being ordered directly from General Motors.

What's good for General Electric (GE) may be good for General Motors. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in a speech Friday, the company would purchase electric cars in large quantities, CNNMoney reported, without specifying the exact number, nor which brands. Immelt said that half of GE's sales force will eventually drive electric vehicles.

General Motors' Volt and Nissan Motors' (NSANY) Leaf are due to hit the market this year. This move by GE will provide an endorsement for electric vehicles. Nonetheless, analysts at J.D. Powers Associates predicted that only 7.3% of passenger vehicles will be hybrids or plug in cars over the next decade, autoblog recently reported.

Sales for most major auto makers were down in September from August, as reported by MSNBC. Ford (F) was the standout with sales up 2%. Here are the numbers for the other companies:

• General Motors (GM) sales declined 3%.
• Chrysler was up less than 1%.
• Toyota (TM) fell less than 1%.
• Nissan (NSANY) was down 3%.

Reportedly, Nissan (NSANY) is recalling roughly 46,000 of its 2009 - 2010 Cubes in the United States because of non-compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards. According to the automaker, a fuel leak developed during crash tests. This leak could result in a fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nissan said that when "the vehicle was rotated following a rear moving barrier crash test as required, the amount of fuel leakage exceeded the allowable limits."

Auto sales jumped 20% in April from a year ago. The numbers were quite strong, but still down 8% from March. Sales have been uneven as we continue to emerge from the greatest recession since the 1930s.

Auto sales are closely tied to buyer incentives. In April, manufacturers reduced incentives by 5%. Given a stable economy, nothing affects sales more than incentives. If you pull the incentives, sales usually slack off.

U.S. stock futures dipped lower Wednesday morning ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on economic challenges. Investors will also eye several financial results, as well as a Treasury auction in light of the recent focus on yields. Meanwhile, continuing and mounting concerns over Greece's and Europe's debt crisis weighed on markets.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks finished mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average remaining near 11,000. This was after minutes from the recent Fed policy meeting showed the phrasing "extended period" could mean vastly different periods depending on who's interpreting it.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault (RNSDF) and Nissan (NSANY), is looking for a boom in electric car sales by 2011. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, Ghosn said: "From everything I'm seeing, in 2011 or 2012 we're going to have to rush to build capacity for both batteries and cars."

Renault and Nissan are installing enough capacity to build 150,000 cars in Japan, 200,000 in Europe and 200,000 in the U.S. They are plunging headlong into the market, claiming to be the first companies to build and sell fully powered electric cars.

Unlike hybrids, such as Toyota's (TM) Prius, electric cars do not have an engine to keep them running when their power runs out.

Vibe, the urban music magazine, is clawing its way back to life. New owners and editors are trying to make the magazine a success reality again, and they are making the web a priority ... which shouldn't be news but is for an ailing print industry.

The new editor-in-chief, Jermaine Hall, told AdAge that "Vibe.com is really the hub," and that everything needs to point back to the online presence. The print publication will be just one part of the Vibe Lifestyle Network, a move we're also seeing with the likes of Rolling Stone, where the website is being brought back into the fold (and may actually get some resources).

Even with the cash-for-clunkers program in full effect, demand for new automobiles is the lowest it's been in years. This has heightened competition among automakers, who are being forced to both improve their products and discount their prices. Consumers in the market for a new 2010 vehicle may be treated to a discount.

Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM), for example, plans to introduce a less expensive Prius, and the 2010 Nissan (OTC: NSANY) Sentra will see its sticker price drop by anywhere from $130 to $1,080, based on the features the buyer opts for. Other vehicles that will hit the showroom floors at a discount include the Mercedes-Benz E350 mid sized sedan and the Lexus RX 350, discounted by $3,300 and $700, respectively.

The Energy Department is set to lend money to Ford (NYSE: F), Tesla, and Nissan (NASDAQ: NSANY), according to the Associated Press. The report cites anonymous sources, with the official announcement set for today in Dearborn, Michigan.

Reportedly, Ford has asked to receive $5 billion in loans by 2011, although the sources were not certain on how much money the automaker would receive. Nissan's requested amount was undisclosed and Tesla has reportedly asked for $450 million. The loan program the automakers are trying to tap into was approved by Congress last year in order to help car companies and suppliers develop green vehicles and components (such as the advanced battery) and help automakers meet the new fuel-efficiency standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Ford (NYSE: F) is the last of the "Big" Three standing on its own two feet. Chrysler and General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ) are on crutches supplied by the federal government. While they're both still upright, those crutches are mighty expensive (the government will own 60% of GM when it emerges from bankruptcy).

Speaking of bankruptcy, Chrysler is already on the other side and now a partner with Fiat. That was perhaps the fastest legal action ever seen. Usually bankruptcy takes between 18 months to two years before a new company emerges.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) beat Q4 earnings estimates handily, sending shares higher.
• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) did well in the holiday period but offered weak guidance.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) one-time gains offset write-downs and said it expects to resume dividend payments.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) shares fell after it announced that it had understated its Q4 and fiscal 2008 loss.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) topped Q4 earnings estimates due in part to volume gain internationally.
• Diageo (NYSE: DEO) earnings rose in the first half, but it cut its full-year forecast.
• GSI Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) "solid" Q4 results led to an analyst downgrade.

Stocks are set for a mixed start as investors keep watching -- and waiting for more details -- the different government plans to bailout the financial market, stimulate the economy and aid homeowners. More here: Before the bell: Stocks set for a mixed start as investors watch government's plans

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) -- Can the Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) rival follow in its competitor's footsteps as it reports earnings today and post results the market is happy with?
Pepsico reported that fourth-quarter profit fell partly on restructuring and impairment charges, but adjusted results were $1.39 billion, or 88 cents per share, inline with analysts' expectations. PEP shares traded nearly 1% higher in premarket trade, despite saying it forecasts pressure from a stronger dollar. PEP shares were some 2.5% higher by 11 am.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) will freeze wages, cut pay for factory executives, eliminate bonuses for all salaried employees and offer voluntary redundancy to plant workers in North America for the first time as it widens output cuts to adjust for slumping vehicle demand. TM shares traded lower in premarket action. TM shares declined some about 1.9% by 11 am.

For employees of Japan's third largest automaker, Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY), the news today was grim. Nissan announced it will be eliminating a hefty 8.5% of its workforce, or roughly 20,000 jobs.

The news comes at a time when all automakers are struggling to deal with the global recession that continues to keep car buyers off the showroom floors. Nissan said it expects to report its first annual loss in the past nine years.

For the company's most recent quarter, October through December, Nissan reported a $904 million quarterly loss.