With a deadline to sell Saab by December 31, General Motors ended negotiations with a potential buyer Friday.

Steven Wade
Special to CNN

My name is Steven Wade and I'm a Saaboholic.

I own three of them, though that's not many by Saab collector standards. I write about Saabs daily on a Web site that I've been running for close to five years now. I've traveled to Sweden twice to look at them, as well as to the Detroit and Frankfurt auto shows. Did I mention that I live in Hobart, Australia, which is almost as far away from Sweden as you can get.

Tens of thousands of people visit my Web site, viewing almost 400,000 pages during November 2009. Many of them contributed articles and news tips. And all of them are in mourning today.

With a deadline to sell Saab by December 31, General Motors ended negotiations with a potential buyer Friday and said it will begin an orderly windup of Saab early in 2010 unless another buyer emerges. (Spyker, a Dutch carmaker, said Sunday that it made a new offer to buy Saab from GM.)

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CIT Group Inc., one of the nation's leading funders of small and medium-sized businesses, filed for the fifth largest bankruptcy by assets in U.S. history Sunday as part of a reorganization plan that has the support of an overwhelming majority of debtholders.

In a statement, the company said it is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for a quick approval of the prepackaged plan. CIT said none of its operating subsidiaries would be affected by the filing, allowing them to continue operations.

"The decision to proceed with our plan of reorganization will allow CIT to continue to provide funding to our small business and middle market customers, two sectors that remain vitally important to the U.S. economy," said CIT (CIT, Fortune 500) chairman Jeffrey M. Peek.

In the bankruptcy filing, CIT said it had $71 billion in assets and $64.9 billion in liabilities. Only Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Worldcom and General Motors had more in assets when they filed for protection.

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CNNMoney.com assistant managing editor Mark M. Meinero, reporter David Ellis and Fortune senior writer Colin Barr contributed to this report.

Congress is considering a new agency designed to give consumers more protection.

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Stocks rallied at the end of a strong week, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting their highest levels in more than a year as investors extended a seven-month rally.

At the close, the Dow added 78 points, the Nasdaq gained 15 points and the S&P 500 tacked on 6 points.

The Dow gained in four of five sessions this week and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained in all five as investors dove back into the market after a two-week selloff.

The week was peppered with upbeat news on both the economic and global fronts, which helped lessen concerns that the stock market has gotten too far ahead of a recovery.

Trade gap narrows

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in August as exports posted a small gain and imports fell on a big drop in demand for foreign oil.

The Commerce Dept. said the trade deficit declined more than 3% to $30.7 billion; surprising economists who had expected higher oil prices to push the imbalance to around $33 billion.

The continued rise in exports may be viewed as an encouraging sign that the global economy is starting to recover from the recession that began in the U.S. and quickly spread overseas.

Bernanke hints at rate hikes

Fed Chief Ben Bernanke said late Thursday that the central bank could tighten monetary policy as the recovery takes hold.

Policymakers have pumped more than $2 trillion into the economy and have kept interest rates at historic lows.

Bernanke's comments strengthened the value of the dollar - pushing the greenback off a 14-month low against the euro.

Obama pushes consumer protection agency

President Obama today made his strongest push yet for the creation of a new consumer protection agency, lashing out against those who have lobbied hard to stand in its way.

The Obama Administration sent Congress its proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency in late June. The proposal has been met with disdain from banks and big business.

"They're doing what they always do - descending on Congress and using every bit of influence they have to maintain a status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers," Obama said in remarks at the White House. "That's why we need a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that will stand up not for big banks and financial firms, but for hardworking Americans."

Banks succeeded last month in stripping out of the bill a provision that would have required banks and others to offer uncomplicated financial products, like easy-to-understand applications for 30-year-fixed mortgages, as alternatives to more complex ones.

GM closer to selling Hummer

General Motors moved a step closer to selling its Hummer brand today when it announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with a Chinese manufacturer.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. and GM said in June that they had reached a preliminary agreement and expected to close the deal by the end of September.

It appeared the deal may be in trouble after the companies missed that target last week. Today's announcement provides assurances that the agreement has not come undone.

GM spokesman John McDonald said the terms of the definitive agreement are along the lines of the earlier deal. The Chinese government still must give its approval.

The deal represents China's first significant move into the U.S. auto market.

And as part of the deal, the Hummer H3 will continue to be built at GM's Shreveport, LA assembly plant on a contract basis at least through June 2011, while the H2 will be built at privately-held AM General's Mishawaka, IN assembly line. The Indiana facility also produces the Humvee vehicles used by the U.S military.

Both contract agreements have a one-year extension option. The deal is expected to protect about 3,000 U.S. jobs, according to GM.

Follow the money… on Twitter: @AndrewTorganCNN

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.

Saturn crashes to earth

General Motors is shuttering its Saturn brand after car dealership operator Penske Automotive Group announced Wednesday it cancelled plans to acquire the unit.

As a result, GM said it will wind down the brand and dealer network, potentially putting 13,000 Saturn dealership jobs at risk.

The announcement comes nearly four months after Penske agreed to buy the rights to the 19-year old brand from GM when the automaker was in bankruptcy.

Personal income and spending numbers jump

Personal income and spending, important measurements of the economy, both jumped in August – an indication of at least some economic improvement.

Personal income edged up $19.3 billion, or 0.2%, according to the Commerce Department. And personal spending jumped 1.3%.

The government also revised both figures higher for July. The Commerce Dept. is attributing the “Cash for Clunkers” program for most of the increase in spending in August.

Pending homes sales rise

Meanwhile, homebuyers signed more sales contracts in August than in any month this year, boosted by the looming expiration of an $8,000 first-time homebuyers' tax credit.

Pending homes sales surged 6.4%, and have now risen for seven straight months to the highest level in more than two years.

Pending home sales rose 3.2% in July.

Weekly jobless claims rise

Despite persistent signs that we are in the midst of a recovery, people continue to lose their jobs.

The number of first-time filers for unemployment insurance jumped last week. There were 551,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Sept. 26, an increase of 17,000 from an upwardly revised 534,000 the previous week, according to the Labor Dept. That topped economists' forecasts.

In addition, the number of people who continue to receive benefits for one week or more dropped by 70,000 to 6,090,000 in the week ended Sept. 19, the most recent data available.

Detroit: Too broke to bury their dead

Detroit is plagued by unemployment, corruption, and abandonment. But for some families, the tough economic reality extends even beyond the grave.

At the Wayne County Morgue, a record number of unclaimed corpses are filling the freezers. The morgue's chief investigator blames the economy. He says people just can't afford to claim their loved ones.

Checkout CNNMoney.com's latest report on: Assignment Detroit.

47% will pay no federal income tax

Most people think they pay too much to Uncle Sam, but for some people it simply is not true.

In 2009, roughly 47% of households, or 71 million, will not owe any federal income tax, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Some in that group will even get additional money from the government because they qualify for refundable tax breaks.

The ranks of those whose major federal tax burdens net out at zero (or less) is on the rise. The center's original 2009 estimate was 38%. That was before enactment in February of the $787 billion economic recovery package, which included a host of new or expanded tax breaks.

Follow the money… on Twitter: @AndrewTorganCNN

GM reveals its first electric car, the Chevy Volt.

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

General Motor' says its Chevrolet Volt, the electric-drive car that's expected to go on sale in late 2010, is projected to get an estimated 230 miles per gallon in city driving.

That exceptionally-high government mileage rating could give the Volt a major boost. For the first time, car buyers will easily be able to compare electric cars with ordinary gas-powered cars.

"Having a car that gets triple-digit fuel economy can and will be a game changer for us," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said this morning at a press conference showing off the ‘Volt.’

Determining fuel economy for what is primarily an electric car is a tricky matter, and General Motors has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency for years on the issue.

Basically, you will be able to drive the Volt for about 40 miles using its lithium-ion batteries. For those driving less than that, gas mileage is essentially unlimited. It is only after 40 miles that the Volt will start using gasoline.

Stocks struggle ahead of Fed announcement

Stocks on Wall Street opened to the downside and kept sliding as the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting got underway today.

The central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady at historic lows near zero. In its closely scrutinized statement, policymakers are expected to say that economic activity is picking up, but that they remain cautious about the outlook. The Fed is not expected to say anything too specific about what its exit strategy may be after putting so much stimulus money into the financial system.

The Fed’s announcement is due around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.

‘Toxic assets’ still a threat to recovery

The economy may show signs of life, but so-called “toxic assets” are still a major threat to any recovery, a bailout watchdog group warned today.

If the economy worsens and unemployment rises further, the troubled assets on bank balance sheets could lose even more value, according to the Congressional Oversight Panel, which keeps tabs on the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector.

The report reminds Congress that the bailout was initially pitched to help deal with troubled assets, hence the name: Troubled Asset Relief Program. Yet the TARP program has not relieved banks of their troubled loans.

The bailout money has instead been used to help banks boost their capital to withstand future losses. Capital injections help ease pressure and potentially free up money for lending - but the “toxic assets” are still festering.

Productivity jumps 6.4%

A new report shows employers are trying to get as much as they can out of workers these days, a move that could pave the way for better growth down the road.

Worker productivity rose 6.4% during the second quarter at its fastest rate in six years. But it doesn't mean more goods were produced. Instead, the gains came because employers are cutting jobs and hours faster than output is declining.

Labor costs are often a company’s biggest expense. But last quarter, labor costs plunged at the fastest pace in nine ears.

Gas prices shift into reverse

After 20 straight days of increases that drove price higher by nearly 19 cents, gas prices dropped by 2-tenths of a cent to $2.643.

The average price of a gallon of gas is now down $1.471 - or 35.7% - from the record high price of $4.114 that AAA reported on July 17, 2008.

The highest gas prices are in Hawaii ($3.197).  The cheapest are in South Carolina ($2.424).

Bank overdraft fees to total $38.5 billion

Banks will collect a record $38.5 billion in overdraft fees this year, with nearly all the revenue paid by just 10% of customers, according to a research report released Monday.

The windfall is nearly double the $19.9 billion collected in 2000 as overdraft fees drift higher despite the recession, said Mike Moebs,  CEO of research company Moebs Services.

The national median overdraft fee rose to $26 from $25 in 2008, while larger Wall Street banks charge a median of $35, Moebs said.

Follow the money… on Twitter: @AndrewTorganCNN

A GM dealership in Shanghai, China

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

After a six-week trip through bankruptcy, the “new” General Motors came into the world today - owned by the government and free of tens of billions in debt and minus its unaffordable brands, dealerships and plants.

The sale of the valuable assets of the old company to the new GM was completed this morning.

"This is an exciting day for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said.

"We deeply appreciate the support we've received. We'll work hard to repay the trust, and the money, that so many have invested in GM," Henderson added.

But he said he couldn't promise that GM would repay the $50 billion the government has already given or promised to GM.

And while there are a lot of changes at the "new" General Motors, at least two things will stay the same: its name and its iconic blue logo.

AIG bonus backlash continues

Bailed-out insurance giant AIG is back in the crosshairs today over its plans to pay $2.4 million in executive bonuses next week.

But the larger issue is how AIG will deal with its obligation to pay roughly $235 million still owed to employees of its crippled financial products division.

The bonus issue resurfaced late Thursday after The Washington Post reported that AIG was seeking the government's consent to make a scheduled performance bonus payment of $2.4 million to 43 of its top-ranking executives.

But there's still the $235 million in retention bonuses owed to about 400 employees of AIG's Financial Products Division that the company has to deal with. A public and political firestorm broke out in March when it was revealed that AIG had paid out $165 million of retention bonuses to those employees.

Banks could shortchange taxpayers

The Treasury Department is at risk of short-changing taxpayers by not collecting enough from banks trying to get out from under the government's thumb, according to a panel that watches over the federal bailout program.

The Congressional Oversight Panel warns that Treasury must drive a hard bargain with banks exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program (or TARP) in a report released today that was unanimously approved by the entire five-member panel.

TARP is the $700 billion bailout enacted last October that Treasury has used to infuse capital into financial firms through complicated loans.

Geithner proposes derivatives crackdown

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today proposed clamping down on dealers in freewheeling markets for little-understood derivatives that helped create a crisis in U.S. and world financial markets.

In testimony at a joint hearing by two congressional panels that will play a role in writing legislation on derivatives, Geithner set out proposals that would make big dealers like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase subject to much stronger supervision than was the case in the past.

Gas prices down for 19th straight day

Gas prices dropped 1.5 cents overnight to $2.565 - the 19th straight day of declines.

In the last 19 days, the average price has decreased 12.8 cents, or 4.75 percent. The average price of a gallon of gas is also down $1.549, or 37.6 percent, from the record high price of $4.114 that AAA reported on July 17, 2008.

The highest gas prices are in Hawaii ($3.292). The cheapest are in Missouri ($2.329).

James Bennet
The Atlantic

Of President Obama’s stated goals for the taxpayers’ investment in General Motors—“To get G.M. back on its feet, take a hands-off approach and get out quickly”—the middle one is likely to work against those at either end. The government can’t hope to fix G.M. and sell it off without getting under the hood. Over decades now of restructuring plans at the company, two things have demonstrably not helped get much done: Money and time. The government can’t simply give more of each to the automaker. What’s needed is forceful, even ruthless, leadership to insist on the changes that everyone—the managers, the union leadership, the dealers, everyone—has known were necessary for about 20 years now.

Fritz Henderson, GM’s CEO, has earned a reputation as an able guy who understands the business and the company he grew up in. But without someone above him bringing the hammer down—repeatedly—he’s going to have the same problem busting through the culture that frustrated his worthy predecessors, like Jack Smith. And if the government is really going to attempt to stand back, rather than insist on a particular direction, it’s likely only to complicate Henderson’s job by allowing him to be buffeted by all sorts of political cross-pressures. Already, according to The Washington Post, John Dingell has written Henderson to complain about plans to close the Willow Run Transmission Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where roughly 1200 workers build four- and six-speed transmissions for rear-wheel-drive vehicles (half the workers will be transferred to a similar plant in Toledo).

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Paul Ingrassia
The Wall Street Journal

Decades of dumb decisions helped send General Motors to a bankruptcy court yesterday, but one stands out.

The year was 1998, and the United Auto Workers was striking at two factories in Flint, Mich., that made components critical to every GM assembly plant in the country. The union was defending production quotas that workers could fill in five or six hours, after which they would get overtime pay or just, you know, go home.

Most strikes are forbidden during the life of a labor contract, so to provide legal cover the union started filing grievances. GM lawyers contended the walkouts violated the contract anyway and drafted a lawsuit - the first by the company against the UAW in more than 60 years. But GM's labor-relations department freaked out because the lawsuit would antagonize the union.

Just think about that. The union had shut down virtually all of GM, costing the company and its shareholders billions of dollars, and yet the company's labor negotiators were afraid of giving offense. After heated internal arguments, the suit was filed and GM seemed on the verge of winning. But the company settled just before the judge ruled.

UAW members marched victoriously through downtown Flint. GM executives who advocated a tougher stand got pushed out of the company.

The picture of a heedless union and a feckless management says a lot about what went wrong at GM. There were many more mistakes, of course - look-alike cars, lapses in quality, misguided acquisitions, and betting on big SUVs just before gas prices soared. They were all born of a uniquely insular corporate culture.

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