cash for clunkers

Ford shares headed down sharply after the company announced quarterly earnings 18 cents per-share lower than analyst expectations. The miss cast a shadow on the report from Ford, which posted its best annual profit in a more than decade -- $6.6 billion.

GM reported Wednesday that sales fell 25% year-over-year in August as the recovery appeared to stall and cautious consumers held back on buying cars. But despite the downturn, GM officials said they remain upbeat that the hard-hit auto industry will continue to improve in the months ahead.

Auto sales braked sharply in August, starting out strong, then slowing to a level that may be the lowest in 28 years. The weak economy made nervous consumers hesitant to buy, despite the bevy of end-of-model-year deals.

Among domestic makes, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all reported total increases in the single digits, but Japanese giants Toyota and Honda slipped.

Analysts' expectations are that sales rose to the highest levels of the year last month as increased automaker incentives lured bargain-hunters.

If it seems like tax laws are changing every time you time around, it's not your imagination. Over the past eight years, changes to the Tax Code have been made at a rate of more than one a day. According to the office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, there were 500 changes in 2008 alone, many of...

At the auto show in Detroit, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood described "Cash for Clunkers" as "the most wildly successful program ever." The remarks suggest the guzzler trade-in program may not have driven into the sunset. But with a majority of Americans opposing it, a retread may not be the best idea.

The ratio of U.S. auto loan borrowers who were 60 or more days past due on their payments increased in the third quarter over the second quarter from from 0.73% to 0.81%, according to Trans Union. The year-over-year delinquency rate at the national level increased by 1.25% in the third...

Retail sales keep creeping upward toward the holiday season. Numbers just released by the federal government show most retail segments had higher sales in October than September but, except for a few areas, sales are still lower than even the dismal totals seen in October of last year. Figures...

Even though last summer's Cash for Clunkers program was rated a success by some, a new report obtained by the Associated Press says the economy might not have fared as well as hoped under "Clunkers."Wednesday, the AP dug up Federal numbers that showed many of the trades didn't increase fuel...