Fed's $2 trillion may buy little improvement in jobs For $2 trillion, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may buy little improvement in growth, employment or inflation over the next two years. Firms with large-scale models of the U.S. economy such as IHS Global Insight, Moody's Analytics Inc. and Macroeconomic Advisers LLC project only a moderate impact from additional Fed asset purchases. The firms estimate that the unemployment rate will remain around 9 percent or higher next year whether the Fed buys ...

With the new General Motors Corp. expressing second thoughts about selling Opel to Canadian partsmaker Magna International Inc. — or anyone else, for that matter — a flip side to GM's indecision has emerged. Why would Magna want Opel when acquisition of the bankrupt European carmaker could jeopardize billions of dollars in business with existing customers — and possibly lead to its ruin? Negotiations between GM and Magna — based in Aurora, Ont., it's one of the world's ...

Nobody can blame Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn for smiling this past week. VW has just turned the tables on would-be raider Porsche, placing Europe's biggest carmaker in the driver's seat for a planned merger with the much smaller and sportier firm. And while colleagues at rivals like Daimler, Fiat, General Motors and Peugeot are busy trying to survive the current economic storm, Winterkorn seems poised to throw VW into high gear. Compared to its battered competition, VW ...

At time when the U.S. and Canada are pouring tens of billions of dollars into General Motors Corp. to give the bankrupt automaker a new lease on life, why is Mexico flying under the radar? Last month when Washington and Ottawa pledged to invest $60 billion in Detroit's biggest car company, Mexico — a partner in NAFTA and an integrated North-American auto industry — was conspicuous by its absence at the negotiating table. See the best ...