Dick Berner, Chief North American Economist at Morgan Stanley, thinks we are in for a sizable uptick in GDP for Q3.  I must be honest; I am sceptical about this, but Berner is a well-regarded economist  whose views can’t be dismissed out of hand.  He says:
Incoming data… confirm that the deepest and longest post-war recession [...]

Roland Koch, the leader of the German state of Hesse, has dismissed the possibility of Chinese auto manufacturer BAIC acquiring German carmaker Opel.  Below is my translation of today’s Spiegel article explaining this.
Clear rejection of the Chinese: Hesse Prime Minister Koch has rejected the takeover offer for Opel by the car manufacturer BAIC. If someone [...]

Judge Robert Gerber has given General Motors approval to sell its assets under section 363 of the bankruptcy code.  Last month I indicated that this 363 sale was more questionable than Chrysler’s and could meet more resistance in court.  That has not happened and the GM bankruptcy looks likely to proceed according to the Obama [...]

Apparently, the U.S. auto industry is working off a significant backlog of inventory because I have been hearing that pretty much everyone in North America is planning to ramp up production for the third quarter.  This is prima facie evidence of the huge inventory-based production changes which I have said will make Q3 and Q4 [...]

We have just learned that Fiat has successfully completed its deal with Chrysler.  This means that the bankrupt ‘Old Chrysler’ will now have far fewer cash and assets available for creditors and that it will be liquidated with large or total losses likely for creditors.  Dissident creditors tried to get their case heard by the [...]

As you can probably tell from previous posts, I like he Currency Strategy Team at Brown Brothers Harriman.  I do not always agree with them – I am generally dollar bearish, whereas they are not – but I do like their analysis.  Marc Chandler and his team are out with a fairly bullish note on [...]

You probably saw in my links that Fiat had bowed out because of German government demands. The Magna story also comes via the BBC:
Canadian car parts maker Magna International is the preferred bidder for GM Europe, owner of Opel and Vauxhall, Lord Mandelson has said.
The UK business secretary said a deal between Magna and GM [...]

I was on the BBC yesterday talking autos and my commentary was almost entirely political.  So, as we await the likely General Motors bankruptcy, I think it bears discussing how political this process has been and will continue to be.
General Motors is a monster company employing a quarter million people worldwide.  It sells $150 billion [...]

GM Bondholders are not happy about the GM deal because the government seems to be running the same scheme where senior bondholders get a serious haircut while other constituents like the union and the federal government get more.  Chrysler set a precedent, so bondholders are likely to hold out, GM will go bankrupt and then [...]

This e-mail came to my inbox from the FDIC last night:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced today the approval of GMAC Financial Services to participate in the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) allowing the company to issue up to $7.4 billion in new FDIC-guaranteed debt. GMAC will pay a fee to the FDIC for [...]