The General Motors' board is starting its two-day meeting today, and it is believed that the company is going to decide what will happen to the German Opel automobile unit. There are other topics to be discussed, including a new marketing campaign and preparation for a public offering of stock so the automaker can repay the U.S. taxpayers.
Nevertheless, the major news will be the company's decision about Opel -- what should General Motors do? Is it smart for the company to give up a portion of its market share in Europe in order to stabilize American sales? Reuters examined several scenarios General Motors might face.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's 20 years too late, but at least GM won't take down the auto industry anymore.
This new GM, this small GM, the one that doesn't care about share but cares about sales and quality and maintenance, may actually be what we needed about 20 years ago.
We have been worried about General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ) (Cramer's Take) for the last 20 years -- too big, too bloated, worrisome obligations. We still have the last one -- there's a lot of obligation still, much of it borne by us not by "them" -- but the one thing this reorganization will take off the table forever is, "How bad will the inevitable collapse of GM be for the country?" I say that because the one thing that we know after it emerges from bankruptcy Friday is that GM, at last, NO LONGER MATTERS.
Car sales in the United States might be struggling, but in China, they are moving product. Passenger vehicle sales spiked 48% last month, its biggest gain since February 2006. Chinese buyers picked up 872,900 cars in June 2009, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, and total auto sales (with buses and trucks included) climbed 36% to 1.14 million year-over-year.
Government officials are proclaiming the country's "downward slide" over, and aggressive goals are being set. The full 2009 vehicle sales forecast was raised from 10.2 million to 11 million, as sales for the first half of the year were up 18% year-over-year to 6.1 million.
Reportedly, a bankruptcy judge has given General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ) the okay to sell a majority of its assets to a new company. This move could open the path for General Motors to "quickly emerge from bankruptcy protection," the AP wrote. U.S. Judge Robert Gerber said in his ruling late Sunday that the sale "was in the best interests of both GM and its creditors," who would get nothing otherwise.
In his ruling, Gerber wrote, "As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation - a disastrous result for GM's creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities in which GM operates."
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.
Former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca has decided to weigh in on the current situation at his former employer, when interviewed by the Associated Press. Iacocca believes that the automaker needs to get the government out of the business as soon as possible, noting that government intervention is "strong motivation to repay the loan early." Iacocca added that the government "oversight is just too extreme." He reminded readers how Chrysler repaid the previous ten year loan from the government in three.
Chrysler and General Motors (OTC: GMGMQ) are have both received billions of dollars in government loans. Chrysler has recently exited bankruptcy protection, while GM remains in Chapter 11. The Treasury Department's auto task force has already made its presence felt, forcing out both CEOs and is reshaping their boards.
The General Motors bankruptcy has been tough on most of the company's constituents, but not on its lawyers. The Wall Street Journalreports (subscription required) that "Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP earned $54 million in fees and expenses in the six months leading up to the auto maker's June 1 bankruptcy filing, according to a recent court filing by Weil Gotshal. Much of the $54 million didn't relate strictly to GM's Chapter 11, according to a Weil lawyer. The firm's lawyers are billing GM at a rate of $355 to $950 per hour."
The firm is trying to become lead debtor's counsel for the GM bankruptcy but hasn't yet received court approval. GM's other top two law firms earned a combined $26 million in fees.
Activist investor Carl Icahn is reportedly interested in taking another run at Delphi Corp. after a federal judge ordered the bankrupt auto parts supplier to open the sale of its assets to potential bidders, in addition to the previous offer from private-equity firm Platinum Equity.
Icahn's auto-parts company, Federal-Mogul Corp. (NASDAQ: FDML), had held discussions with Delphi, but the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, which was set up by the Obama administration to oversee the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry, preferred the Platinum Equity deal.
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.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we're trying to repeal what happened financially last year. Will it lead to strength industrially?
How low were we really? What was the real baseline pre-Lehman Brothers? What was going on in the country and the world before that financial atomic bomb dropped?
I struggle over that now, about what the true price of copper should be, about what the true price of oil should be, about the price of steel, all kinds of things. I try to figure out what the prices for everything were going to be before Lehman.
The Journal says that Penske will take over the brands, trademarks, service and parts operations, as well as the distribution operations related to the Saturn brand. The report also notes that Penske will make deals with other auto makers (one possibility is Renault SA) to purchase vehicles that will fill out the Saturn portfolio.
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The General Motors' board is starting its two-day meeting today, and it is believed that the company is going to decide what will happen to the German Opel automobile unit. There are other topics to be discussed, including a new marketing campaign and preparation for a public offering of stock so the automaker can repay the U.S. taxpayers. 
Car sales in the United States might be struggling, but in China, they are moving product. Passenger vehicle sales -at-150.jpg){kind=logo}
When oil lost almost $3 a barrel, 
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' 
The General Motors bankruptcy has been tough on most of the company's constituents, but not on its lawyers.
Activist investor Carl Icahn is reportedly interested in taking 
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