Chrysler CEO Marchionne: We'll Take a Piecemeal Approach to IPO in 2011

Chrysler IPO Could Initially Be Small, in `Chunks,' CEO Says
Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said financial performance next year at the automaker run by Fiat SpA will justify an initial public offering in the second half.

Fuel-Efficiency Targets Head Higher
By SIOBHAN HUGHES And SHARON TERLEP As the U.S. Government on Friday urged auto makers to offer car and light truck fleets that average up to 62 miles a gallon by 2025, Government-owned auto maker General Motors Co. said it was speeding production of a new line of big SUVs. GM, 61%-controlled by the U.S. Government after a Bailout and Bankruptcy restructuring, is racing to field new Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade SUVs by 2014, just a year after the company plans to debut new pickup...

62 Mpg for New Cars? It's the US Target for 2025
Friday, October 01, 2010 By Ken Thomas, Associated Press In this May 21, 2010 file photo, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolls off the assembly line at the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. New models and Labor Day promotions didn't do much to fire Americans' appetites for new cars in September. Still, auto executives expect a modest recovery for the remainder of the year. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file) Washington (AP) - Cars and trucks averaging 62 miles per...

Answer to Debt Woes Eludes Cities, States
Bankruptcy has become an acceptable and, in many cases, successful way for Debt-burdened companies and consumers to get a fresh start. Airlines do it. Auto companies do it. Retailers do it. More than 1.6 million American households are expected to do it this year. Buckling under crippling Debts, State and local Governments are unlikely to file for Bankruptcy, but the alternatives could be worse, says WSJ's David Wessel. But reneging on Debts remains a rarity among U.S. State and municipal...

GM, Ford, Chrysler report jumps in September auto sales
The Auto Industry continued along its road to recovery from its worst year in nearly three decades as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group reported selling more vehicles in September than a year earlier. GM, the nation's largest automaker, saw its new vehicle sales in the U.S. increase 12% to 173,031. Ford saw its sales jump 46% to 160,375, and Chrysler sold 100,077 vehicles, up 61%. The rise was expected because auto sales fell sharply in September 2009 with the end of...

U.S. Business Activity Unexpectedly Rises as Manufacturers Lead Recovery
Source: Bloomberg Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Business activity in the U.S. unexpectedly accelerated in September, a sign manufacturers are still at the forefront of the recovery. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer climbed to 60.4 in September, exceeding the highest estimate of Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, from 56.7 the prior month. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. The median forecast projected the gauge would fall to...

Femina Interview on Goldman Sachs Advertising
Jerry Della Femina, chairman and chief executive officer of Della Femina/Jeary and Partners, talks about Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s advertising campaign. Femina speaks with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)

Governments' Bad Investments
The Wall Street Journal reports that municipalities all over the nation are teetering on the verge of Bankruptcy ("Local Debts Defy Easy Solution," September 23). This may be the final proof that the ongoing Financial Crisis is not a Crisis of free markets, as Populist politicians and media have characterized it. The municipal Debt Crisis is a Political Crisis, one created by politicians making bad decisions with Taxpayer money in order to funnel it to their cronies and supporters. Why are...

Listing The Best Replacements For Larry Summers
. 1. Dick Fuld . Now here’s somebody we could rely on to leave a big mark. Like the size of a meteor crater . I realize Lehman Brothers was the largest Bankruptcy in history, and Fuld was its CEO. This is what makes him useful. No matter what he says, people instinctively will think the opposite must be true. If Obama wants us to believe The Economy is turning around, all he has to do is get Fuld to say “the best is behind us.” 2. Jimmy Cayne . True, the former Bear Stearns...

Grand Theft Economics: Anglo Irish Bank bailout could total
© Kyran O'Brien A cement mixer rammed the gates of Irish Government buildings yesterday in a warning to political leaders that the Financial heist will not be accepted by the people Finance Minister warns Bank Failure would 'bring down' Ireland Bailout will take Government Debt to over 100% of GDP The cost of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank, the lender at the centre of Ireland's Financial Crisis, could rise to 34bn (29.1bn) under a worst case scenario, the Irish Central Bank admitted...

Fuel standard could hit 60 MPG
The Obama Administration on Friday is expected to suggest nearly doubling fuel economy goals for new cars and light trucks — possibly to more than 60 miles per gallon by 2025. Under orders from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department have been working for several months on the next phase of gas mileage standards for motor vehicles built between 2017 and 2025. Continue Reading Text Size Politico 44 Auto Industry and Environmental sources...

Greece seeks Chinese investment as PM visits
Cash-strapped Greece plays host to China's Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday, hoping to drum up sorely needed investment as Athens battles to emerge from an unprecedented Debt crisis. Greece is hoping to build on the success of existing Chinese investment in the country where shipping giant Cosco is already upgrading and expanding the main port. "Business ties are extensive, especially in the area of shipping and maritime affairs," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying said in Beijing ahead of the...

At Paris, conventional engines still going strong
Paris -   Hybrids and Electric Cars may get top billing. But at the Paris Auto Show, conventional engines are showing they have plenty of mileage left. New gas and diesel models have Carbon Emissions not far behind those of Hybrids, and there's nothing old-fashioned about their small size and highly efficient internal combustion technology. A diesel-powered Ford Fiesta and a Fiat 500 subcompact outfitted with a new two-cylinder MultiAir engine were among the conventional powertrains...

Energy Extravaganza
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Sept. 15 proudly released a tale of an unemployed auto-industry engineer in Detroit, Leon Brown, who started a small all-minority employee weatherizing business. The firm is financed by a $5 million grant from the infamous Stimulus package. His employees come from non-traditional energy backgrounds, but have the ability to be cross trained quickly, the story promises. Its not held against our applicants that they wont know anything about...

GM posts sluggish Sept. sales, sign of slow autumn
Detroit (AP) - General Motors says its sales sputtered in September, a sign that Americans are nervous about taking on Debt to buy big-ticket items. Sales for the biggest U.S. automaker fell about 6 percent from August but were up 10.5 percent over September of last year. However, it was easy for sales to improve from last September. That's because that month was hurt by low demand following the government's Cash for Clunkers program. Industry analysts say this September started strong. Labor...

Report traces stock market's wild May 6 'flash crash' to a single trade
A report on the causes of the May 6 "flash crash" in which the Stock Market gyrated widely and plunged almost 1,000 points in a half hour was traced to a single automated trade. In the mayhem, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted almost 1,000 points , briefly wiping out $1 Trillion in Market value before recovering, CNNMoney.com notes. Click here to read the full report, written by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The report does...

Not a bad return on a costly investment
NOT A BAD RETURN ON A COSTLY Investment.... Whether one approves of 2008's financial industry Bailout or considers it the worst piece of Legislation in American history, there's one thing we can all be very glad about: its Price Tag . Even as voters rage and Candidates put up ads against Government Bailouts, the reviled mother of them all -- the $700 Billion lifeline to banks, Insurance and auto companies -- will expire after Sunday at a fraction of that cost, and could conceivably earn...

Smart meters need smart consumers - Education as well as technology is key to realizing benefits
This cross-post is by CAP’s Richard W. Caperton . Twenty years from now your relationship with your electric Utility likely will be fundamentally different from today. Currently you use Electricity whenever you want, pay a flat rate for all of the Energy you use, and the only real service you expect from your Utility is to keep the lights on. Consumers in 2030, however, will have houses that are optimized to use Energy when its most efficient, pay rates more closely related...

A thick cloud over Washington but sunny on Wall Street
At fleeting moments over the last 15 months or so, Americans might have dared to imagine a U.S. Economic Recovery in which the government's influence would fade and the Private Sector's animal spirits would take over. Instead, we're heading into the fourth quarter of 2010 with Washington's power to make or break the Recovery still paramount — and with enormous uncertainty about what to expect from those in charge or soon to be in charge. It's the kind of murk that typically vexes financial...

DeMint targets Senate colleagues
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is planning to wage a Television campaign against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and other Democratic colleagues. The Senate Conservatives Fund, a Political action Committee that DeMint helms, has produced an anti-Reid Television ad and will raise money to launch it in Nevada. The Senate Conservatives Funds first target, however, is Sen. Michael Bennet, the freshman Democrat from Colorado who is running against Ken Buck, a favorite of Tea Party...

NEC Made Higher Bid for Cogent Before 3M Deal
Cogent , the maker of fingerprint-identification systems that is being acquired by 3M , received a buyout bid exceeding $1 Billion from NEC , according to court papers, Bloomberg News reported. 3M, the maker of products including anticounterfeiting laminates, agreed Aug. 30 to buy Cogent for $10.50 a share for a total of $943 million. Cogent investors sued in Delaware Chancery Court alleging the companys officials didnt get enough for shareholders and unfairly structured the deal to...

Some Polls You Can Ignore
There is a trickle. Soon, there will be a flood. Polling for the 2012 GOP presidential contenders, that is. I’m going to ignore these for a very long time. They are meaningless at this stage. (Ask Rudy Giuliani.) They are a function of name identification. The field is not set, the Candidates have not yet engaged, and the inevitable unflatteringrevelations haven’t come. As we learned in 2008, it is not necessarily money and a strong organization that prevail. John McCain had...

TARP Didn't Bust the Bank
Out of the rescue's many programs, there are three main sources of red ink: giant insurer American International Group ( AIG ), the Auto Industry, and assistance to Homeowners. The Obama Administration for months has been negotiating an AIG exit strategy in hopes of recouping its $182 Billion government lifeline and restoring the company to independence. Under the plan, which could be announced as early as Sept. 30, Treasury would convert a preferred stake in AIG to common stock and sell that...

SKS Microfinance IPO Attracts Strong Demand
BY SATISH SARANGARAJAN AND JOHN SATISH KUMAR Mumbai—SKS Microfinance Ltd.'s $347 million initial public offering of stock was subscribed 13.8 times after drawing strong investor demand, one of the Bankers involved in the deal said Monday. The IPO, the first in India by a microfinance institution, has attracted significant attention to an area of The Economy that is still nascent as an organized sector. Order-taking from institutional investors ended ...

Explaining The Massive Shell Game That Is The Petrobras IPO
, of that $69 Billion "raised" in the IPO, "$43.5 Billion came from Petrobras itself, to pay the government for 5 Billion barrels of undeveloped ultradeepwater petroleum reserves, and that in turn was paid for using a government loan. In sum, for $43.5 Billion of the $69 Billion capitalization, no money changed hands, as the company essentially gave the government shares in return for the petroleum reserves. " But it gets much worse: However, R$24.7 Billion ($14.4 Billion) of the...