When oil lost almost $3 a barrel, stock futures indicated a lower opening for today. Just shy of 5 AM, S&P 500, Down Jones, and Nasdaq 100 futures were all off 0.9%. The drop in oil to $64 a barrel has called into question any projections of a quick economic recovery -- as if high unemployment weren't enough. The Monday after any long weekend is hard, and this one's going to hurt.

The direction in which futures are pointing continues Thursday's equity declines in the United States, bringing the S&P 500 its third consecutive weekly loss. For the day, it lost 2.91%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.63% of its value, with the Nasdaq Composite Index giving up 2.67%. Year-to-date, the DJIA is down 5.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.8%.

U.S. stock-market futures declined Monday morning following the long holiday weekend. As the hopes for a quick economic recovery waned, oil prices dropped sharply, adding to pressure on stocks. After focusing much on the economy, investors will now turn their attention also to earnings as the beginning of the second quarter earnings season begins. Meanwhile, today, the headlines have more auto news as the General Motors' bankruptcy plan received a federal judge's approval.

Vice President Joe Biden didn't help to instill confidence in Wall Street when said Sunday on an ABC interview the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was." He added, though, that the administration stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up. With nonfarm payrolls data last Thursday showing U.S. employers slashed 467,000 jobs in June -- 100,000 more than anticipated -- many hope the administration is right.

General Motors is hoping to emerge from bankruptcy conduct an initial public offering sometime in 2010, according (subscription required) to The Wall Street Journal. The IPO could either raise additional capital for the company or allow the United States and Canadian governments to begin divesting their stakes in the company.

Washington has been mum on how and when it plans to begin recouping its "investment" in General Motors. Earlier this week on DailyFinance, Peter Cohan wrote that our investment in GM has mostly gone down the tubes:

Forging a cross-border buyout deal is always difficult. But, it is even more complicated if the seller needs to get the deal done fairly quickly.

No doubt, this is the case with GM, which is in the process of unloading its Hummer unit. The interested buyer is Sichuan Tengzhong, which is based in China. The price tag on the deal: $500 million.

However, this week we got a bombshell; that is, the BBC reported that the Chinese government wanted to kill the deal.

Well, well, well...what to do now, right? CarMax is an interesting company in an interesting time. It sells used cars during a period when new cars aren't selling too well. We all know about the problems at Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ). But that isn't reason enough to put money down on this stock. Especially not after a rally like we're seeing today.

Downtrodden General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ) is throwing in the towel on its 2010 hybrid-electric Chevy Malibu, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Due to weak demand among retail customers, dealers have stopped ordering the car, and the automaker is currently choking on a backlog of the unpopular hybrids.

To drive home the point, the Journal quotes Joe Menegos, the sales manager at a National City, Calif., dealership, as saying, "We could care less" that the hybrid Malibu is being deep-sixed.

Last week I wrote that the congressional hearings on General Motors' plan to terminate dealerships represented the manifestation of the worst fears surrounding a government-controlled auto industry: managerial meddling motivated by political rather than economic aims.

Today Bloomberg reports that there's a very good reason for Congress's willingness to listen to the car dealers: "Automobile dealers have been among the biggest contributors to U.S. political campaigns over the past decade, surpassing all but two groups in donations. That $13 million investment may be paying off as the dealers get a lot of attention on Capitol Hill."

AlixPartners, one of the firms charged with helping General Motors navigate its way through bankruptcy, performed liquidation analysis as part of the company's court proceedings, and its findings are disturbing: If GM liquidated tomorrow, there would be less than $10 billion in net proceeds.

The New York Times reports that "bank lenders owed $5.4 billion would recover from 26.3 to 77.1 cents on the dollar. The United States Treasury, on the hook for $20.5 billion, fares even worse under this scenario, getting just 12.7 cents to 23.7 cents on the dollar for its claims. Unsecured creditors would get nothing." (emphasis added)

Back in the 1950s, Roger Penske not only raced cars, but he also sold them. And, when he retired in 1965, he focused on his business interests, creating an empire. Now, there is Penske Auto (NYSE: PAG), which operates a chain of auto dealers, a truck leasing operation, and a high-performance car operation.

Well, this week the empire got even bigger; that is, Penske agreed to purchase the Saturn unit from General Motors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.