Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen sit atop the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) posted a stronger-than-expected profit for its fiscal first quarter and said business was recovering as customers are buying more network equipment again. Its revenue outlook for the current quarter also exceeded Wall Street expectations. Shares rose over 3.5 percent in premarket trade.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) posted a surprise profit last quarter -- its first after three losing quarters -- and trimmed its projected red ink for the year. Toyota said results were due to government measures around the world designed to boost sales of environmentally friendly cars and other vehicles. Shares were 2 percent higher ahead of the bell.

Toyota Motor Corp's (TM) surprise quarterly profit and halving of its annual loss forecast failed to convince investors the world's No.1 carmaker is back on track, as government subsidies peter out and a strong yen takes its toll.

Major Japanese automakers have raised their forecasts for the year to March 2010 as they squeeze out savings and government incentives from Germany to China, the U.S. and Japan prop demand through the worst economic crisis in generations.

General Motors reported its first monthly gain in U.S. sales in almost two years, while Toyota and Ford also improved, a sign the auto industry it starting to crawl back from a yearlong slump.

Demand for new cars and crossovers in October fueled better results for General Motors and Detroit rival Ford Motor (F). GM's sales rose 4 percent from October 2008, while Ford notched a 3-percent gain. Japanese rival Toyota Motor (TM) said its sales edged up less than a percent. Less rosy news came from Chrysler Group, whose sales fell 30 percent, though they improved from September.

U.S. auto sales in October are expected to provide more evidence that the worst of the industry's four-year downturn has passed, while leaving open doubts about the speed and strength of the recovery.

Analysts and executives expect U.S. auto sales will be above 10 million vehicles on the annualized basis tracked by the industry.

The economic competition between the North and the South continues, 144 years after the end of the Civil War. As The Seattle Times is reporting, Boeing (BA) is opening a second final assembly line in Charleston, South Carolina, for its 787 -- the 850-order, $150 billion-backlog passenger jet whose production schedule has been delayed six times in the last two years.

One reason for the delay was a 52-day strike last fall by Boeing's machinists union, largely based in Washington state. But South Carolina, which Bloomberg reports is a right-to-work state, meaning workers there can't be forced to join a union, offers Boeing some leverage against the union; it can threaten to shift more work there if the union in Washington doesn't play ball.

Asian automakers are still building the most reliable cars and trucks, with eight of the top 10 brands from Japanese and Korean companies, according to an annual survey by Consumer Reports.

But several models from Ford Motor Co. are now consistently scoring above Honda and Toyota, the perennial leaders.