GENERAL MOTORS

Ally Financial Inc., the auto lender majority-owned by U.S. taxpayers, has received conditional approval from the U.S. Treasury Department on plans to put its struggling mortgage servicing and lending unit into bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported, citing an anonymous Obama administration official.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM), the world's largest auto company, reported profits down 69 percent for the first quarter, but the loss resulted from outsized, one-time profits the year before. Overall performance for the company was strong, with revenue driven 4.4 percent higher by strong U.S. sales and improved global margins.

General Motors reported a first-quarter profit that surpassed forecasts as it was able to boost vehicle prices, especially in North America, and cut losses in its troubled European operations.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a higher opening on Thursday ahead of economic data including weekly jobless claims.

U.S. light vehicle sales increased 2 percent in April to 1.2 million cars on continued high demand for fuel-efficient cars, and sales are projected to continue at a strong clip, maintaining an annualized rate of 14.4 million.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM), the world's largest car company, reported an 8.2 percent drop in April sales on declining fleet sales and fewer selling days compared to the year before.

Driverless cars are closer than ever before to hitting the market, but concerns about liability for accidents may hamper progress.

As the Obama administration uses the approaching one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death to tout the president's decision to launch a strike on the former Al Qaeda leader, Republicans have accused the administration of unnecessarily politicizing the issue.

It?s not just enterprises and government agencies that are already starting to benefit from the new era of so-called ?Big Data.? Consumers are already beneficiaries, even if they don?t know it.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), the second-largest U.S. carmaker, said Friday profit fell 20.5 percent, missing analysts' predictions, on lower European sales, plunging South American profit and a drop in Ford Credit profit.

The first-quarter earnings season has so far generated big waves of positive surprises, which fueled the upward momentum in the stock market. However, investors should take these earnings beats with a grain of salt.

Just days before the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing, Vice President Joe Biden directly appealed to students while boasting President Barack Obama's foreign policy achievements and slamming presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as out of touch.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor reported Thursday a profit of 2.45 trillion won ($2.2 billion) in the first quarter, which is up 31 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), the second-largest U.S. carmaker, is expected to report Friday its first-quarter earnings plunged by 42.6 percent as gains in North America couldn't offset a slump in vehicle demand in Europe and slowing sales growth in South America and Asia.

Orders for long-lasting goods sank in March by the largest margin in three years, hurt by falling demand for commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

PSA Peugeot Citroen may build cars in India with General Motors its new partner, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot's head of Asian operations, according to a Reuters report. The move would effectively discard its planned $850 million investment in its own manufacturing facility in India, Reuters report said.

Delphi Automotive Plc (DLPH) reported earnings per share of $1.04 for the first quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, up 247 percent since last year, and beating analyst predictions as revenue and income rose for the automotive electronics supplier.

General Motors Co. will open 600 Chinese dealerships this year, chairman and CEO Dan Akerson said Monday.

Earnings season is in full swing, and about 80 percent of the companies that have already reported topped estimates. We ran a screen and produced a list of 50 key companies set to report their earnings between April 23 and 27.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) said Thursday it will build a $760 million assembly plant in Hangzhou as part of a plan to double its production capacity in China by 2015 and catch up with global rivals.

Automaker Ford said Thursday that it plans to build a $760-million assembly plant in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou as part of expansion plans in the country.