Motoryzacja

Cash-poor General Motors Corp. is postponing nearly all spending on product development in 2009 and 2010, reports Automotive News on its Web site today. The automaker also is cutting spending on engineering, design, and research and development.

Global Insight chief economist Nariman Behravesh said Thursday that the risks of a recession in the United States are real and potentially damaging to the automotive market going forward. "Consumer spending will slow," he said, predicting a recovery in mid-2008 at the earliest.

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush today signed a sprawling, $630-billion-plus stopgap spending bill that will keep the government running for the next 12 months and, among other things, provide automakers with $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shrugged off weak consumer spending to remain atop the 2008 Fortune 500 list, edging Exxon Mobil Corp. for the second straight year in the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's largest publicly traded companies.

Setting up a huge health care trust for hourly retirees could force General Motors Corp. to cut or delay spending in other areas, the automaker said in its annual report filed today.