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’The shrinking, shirking Tarp
As if it couldn’t get any rosier: $25bn is the new bargain basement Tarp cost, according to figures out Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.
This is an ostensible snip compared to recent, relatively whopping estimates from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at $113bn in October 2010 and the CBO’s previous forecast of $66bn in August 2010.
New bidders emerge for car maker Saab
Saab, the Swedish car maker put on the block by its American parent General Motors, is in talks with at least two potential buyers following the collapse of the sale to sports car maker Koenigsegg, the Telegraph reported. Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings,
GMAC said to seek a fresh bailout
GMAC, the troubled American consumer finance group, is reportedly seeking its third hand-out of Federal aid in a move that could leave the US government with a controlling stake, the New York Times reported.
BAIC plans Opel China plant
Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation aims rapidly to expand its operations in China if it wins the race to acquire General Motors’ Opel business in Europe. In a last-minute bid for GM’s European operations,
Wisest is he who knows he does not know
I don’t know anything about cars.
Guess who?
Yes, it’s Edward E Whitacre Jr, new chairman of General Motors! It’s ok though Ed, neither did your predecessors, QED.
In fairness, GM probably needs a chairman that does – like Whitacre – have a broader perspective on the issues at stake here.
GM breaks the buck
Not before time, perhaps.
Shares in General Motors were trading at 90 cents around midday in New York, down 22 cents. The company is due to file for bankruptcy in the US on Monday.
Tortuous talks to save the European operation continue…
The good car-maker/bad car-maker plan
Well, if it works for Irish banks, why not US auto manufacturers?
Reuters was using words like “intense” and “earnest” on Wednesday as it reported on General Motors’ preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing. Bloomberg was reporting similar activity as GM responds to Obama’s rejection of the company’s s plea to hang on to $13.4bn in federal loans.
CDS update: Another poor run for banks
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
The credit and equity market moved in unison today, with European indices in both asset classes about 4-6% off Friday’s close. The Markit iTraxx Europe index closed at 172bp,
US refuses fresh funding for GM, Chrysler
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington
The Obama administration refused on Sunday night to give fresh bailout money to General Motors and Chrysler, telling the carmakers to come up with new plans or risk insolvency.
Mandelson says Vauxhall is in ‘trouble’
Vauxhall, the carmaker, is in “terrible trouble”, UK business secretary Lord Mandelson conceded on Sunday, as he set out plans to work with Germany to try to save the European subsidiaries of General Motors.
Roadkill
This just in… a new possible contender for FT Alphaville’s coveted and hotly contested Worst Company in the World epithet. From the FT:
General Motors on Thursday reported a larger-than-expected $9.6bn net loss for the fourth quarter,
Do the auto default wave
What does an auto industry default cascade look like? Like this, from Bank of America:
And that’s the reason why the US government may well be considering bailing out the country’s flailing auto industry using Tarp funds,
Bailout, new media-style
GM has put out a YouTube video begging for on why they need a bailout.
Comments on the rather ominous video are mysteriously, err, disabled.
Related links:
GM needs $22bn – FT Alphaville
Hello,
CDS report: GM causes jitters
European credit derivative spreads jumped on Wednesday as investor sentiment was stung by the woes of General Motors and more bad results from the banking sector.
The Markit iTraxx Europe index widened by 9.45 basis points to 155.25bp,
Auto de fé
In the US, the debate is hotting up over the automobile industry’s access to state aid. The WSJ reports today that Dems are seeking to outflank the immobile Republican administration with a broadside from the Hill;
GM is worthless
…according to Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache, who has just slashed his target price on what is still the world’s biggest car maker to $0 and advised clients to get out.
He thinks GM will not be able to fund its operations beyond the end of next month and the inevitable government bailout will leave shareholders with nothing.
GM to Ask US Treasury for aid in Chrysler merger
Bloomberg says General Motors has asked the US Treasury for financial aid to help complete a merger with Cerberus Capital Management’s Chrysler. The Wall Street Journal reports that without a merger and possibly an assist from the federal government,
GM may seek deeper cost cuts
General Motors may start a new round of cost cuts because a planned $15bn in asset sales won’t be enough to maintain its liquidity amid falling sales, Bloomberg reports. The deliberations come as GM is in talks on a merger with Chrysler.
Kerkorian sells down his Ford stake
US billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is selling down his stake in Ford Motor because he sees more value in his gambling holdings. The move represents a fresh blow for Ford, the most highly leveraged of Detroit’s three loss-making carmakers.
Wipeout on Wall Street II – The GM edition
Leading this evening’s rout was GM. Shares in the car maker plunged $2.15, or 31 percent, to a 58-year low of $4.76 after S&P dropped this bombshell:
NEW YORK (Standard & Poor’s) Oct. 9, 2008–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services
today placed its ratings on U.S.
Wipeout on Wall Street
The patient is not responding. US markets have gone into cardiac arrest.
Dow 8,579.19 -678.91 (-7.33%)
Nasdaq 1,645.12 -95.21 (-5.47%)
S&P 500 909.92 -75.02 (-7.62%)
Morgan Stanley
Revenge of the shorts
And so it begins.
Everything was oh-so-rosy half an hour ago.
Then it all turned around quicker than you could say, “canIborrowthatstockplease.”
The DJIA is currently off just shy of one per cent,
GM suspends dividend
General Motors has suspended its dividend and is considering asset sales as part of a “self-help” plan to improve liquidity in the face of a downturn in the North American vehicle market. The measures unveiled,
Merrill: GM bankruptcy ‘possible’
General Motors will need to raise as much as $15bn in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is “not impossible” if the US auto market continues to slump, Merrill Lynch said, reports Reuters. Other analysts have suggested GM,
CDS report: How about that jobs number? And, you know, everything else?
Sentiment in the market for credit default swaps deteriorated further on Wednesday, hurt by dismal economic data in the US, an outbreak of analyst downgrades and a surprising warning from a stalwart of the British High Street.
The Alphaville sandwich board: the end is nigh
A cavalcade of bad news hitting the market today – in the form of various analyst notes. The sense being that having spent months writing about the oncoming recession, we’re now actually dealing with it.