Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Ford Motor says auto sales fell 5.1% in September from the same month last year, breaking a two-month streak of gains and illustrating the hangover many dealers are suffering through in the wake of this summer's popular “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Rival General Motors reported a 45% drop in sales. Chrysler Group, meantime, said September sales fell 42% from a year earlier.

On a month-to-month comparison, sales at both Ford and GM fell 37% from August. Two of Ford's vehicles - the Focus and Escape - were among the top sellers in the “Clunkers” program.

Chrysler’s sales fell 33% from August, but since the company has a heavier reliance on trucks than its rivals, it did not get much of a sales lift from the rebate program.

Ford was the only member of Detroit’s so-called “Big Three” automakers that did not declare bankruptcy this year or receive any government bailout money.

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Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the identity theft involving his family.

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Federal agents have nabbed a woman allegedly involved in a sophisticated identity-theft ring that claimed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke among its victims, authorities said today.

Shona Michelle Young was arrested at the Airport Villas near Miami International Airport on Monday, said spokesman Barry Golden of the U.S. Marshal's office for the southern district of Florida.

Young is said to be a major check-casher for the identity theft ring, which stole the purse of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's wife, Anna, last summer.

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