Honda (NYSE: HMC) posts a 65% drop in profits and cuts its outlook because of the yen and Thai floods. (Reuters)

Twenty-five nations, led by Germany, sign a bailout fund agreement. (Reuters)

Honda will launch its first business jet next week. (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) independent directors agree that the chairman should not be a company executive. (Reuters)

German retail sales fall in December. (Reuters)

The WTO rules against Chinese policies on raw materials, but its rare earth exports are not addressed. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) changes the roles of a number of its top managers. (Reuters)

Another director — Larry Babbio Jr. — leaves the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) board. (Reuters)

New 401(k) rules could help millions of American with savings. (WSJ)

State attorneys general have until the end of the week to join a bank mortgage settlement set by the federal government. (WSJ)

Banco Santander’s (NYSE: STD) profits drop 98% on its real estate holdings. (WSJ)

The vice chairman of Avon Products (NYSE: AVP) loses his job over an overseas bribery probe. (WSJ)

Symphony IRI reports that more shoppers are moving to store brands and away from traditional ones. (WSJ)

RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) shares fall on a profit warning. (WSJ)

Portugal’s borrowing costs rise to euro-area highs. (WSJ)

The Manhattan Institute reports racial segregation reached a 100-year low. (WSJ)

Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) home broadband efforts compete with Verizon Wireless products. (WSJ)

Groupon’s (NASDAQ: GRPN) CEO defends the value of the company’s shares. (WSJ)

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) moves into India. (WSJ)

Pep Boys goes private. (WSJ)

Comscore reports that Facebook increased its display market share lead over Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). (WSJ)

Many European companies begin to prepare for the economic fallout of a troubled Europe. (WSJ)

Moody’s says it was unaware of balance sheet risks taken by MF Global. (WSJ)

BSkyB will launch an online TV service. (NYT)

The Treasury Department investigates whether Freddie Mac invested based on an inability of some Americans to refinance their homes. (NYT)

A bill to curtail insider trading in Congress advances. (NYT)

EU banks may take loans of as much as $1 trillion because of financial trouble in the region. (FT)

Strong R&D and innovation can extend the life cycles of technology companies. (FT)

Greece is near a confrontation with the European Union over a rescue. (Bloomberg)

German unemployment fell more than expected in January, according to the Federal Labor Agency. (Bloomberg)

Portugal will sell more assets to help with its national debt reduction. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Read The Best-Selling Cars of All Time

The best-selling vehicles have several other notable features in common. For one, the majority were introduced just before or around the same time that gas prices began to rise rapidly in the early 1970s, primarily because of the Arab oil embargo. Car companies offered 4-cylinder, light and fuel-efficient cars that allowed people to drive without badly hurting household budgets. Many of these cars continue to sell well today as gas prices are relatively high around the world.

Many of these cars also are manufactured and sold around the world. The Beetle is sold in the U.S. and Europe. The Passat is built in both the U.S. and China. Several of the best-selling cars from Japan are sold in most major countries around the world. Once a car proved its appeal with consumers, it made economic sense for a manufacturer to use the same base chassis and engine at plants on different continents.

24/7 Wall St. looked at best-selling car data from a number of sources. The sources included major media outlets that cover the auto industry, research firms, and car companies that keep lists of their own best-selling cars.

This is the 24/7 Wall St.’s Best Selling Cars of All Time.

Read: The Eight Industries the U.S Has Lost to China

For several years, economists have said that China’s GDP growth indicates that its economy will pass that of the U.S. in the next two or three decades. China’s GDP is measured at about $6.5 trillion, now second in the world. America’s GDP is over $15.2 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund. While China certainly has much catching up to do, the two countries’ rate of GDP growth is also very different. Last year, China’s economy expanded at more than 9%. America’s GDP grew at a little better than 2%.

One reason that China continues to gain so rapidly on the U.S. is the high cost of American labor and manufacturing. In fact, U.S. manufacturing costs have risen so much that they are much higher than in any developed nation with factory capacity. This includes countries like China, Mexico and South Korea — places the U.S. and Japanese companies often contract to do their factory work. The labor price advantage has helped China become the largest steel producer in the world. China is also first place in car manufacturing.

Low labor costs are not the sole reason China has become the single largest provider of many goods. China’s 1.3 billion citizens have become voracious consumers as workers in its manufacturing sector have grown the number of its middle class. China also has decided that it is often financially better to provide its own raw material for its factories — items like cotton — than it is to import such items from overseas.

24/7 Wall St. examined the manufacturing, agricultural and financial businesses in which China has surpassed the U.S. China likely will become the world’s largest economy based on GDP. It certainly has shown that it has the capacity to advance on that position — one large industry at a time.

Google’s brand value increased by 27%, the third largest gain among the top 100 brands. The second largest gain was posted by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), which jumped 32% and moved up from 36th on the list to 26th.

The biggest loser was Nokia, which fell -15% and from 8th to 14th in the league table. Another smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, moved up from 2 places, from 19th, on the strength of a 20% jump in brand value.

Toyota, ranked 11th, is the top automaker, barely ahead of Mercedes-Benz, with BMW in third. Among US carmakers only Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) made the top 100 with its ‘Ford’ brand, at 50th place behind Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) and Volkswagen.

Three brands made the list for the first time: Nissan, John Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), and HTC Corp.

The Interbrand study ranks the top ten brands by dollar value in this order:

1. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) – $71.86 billion
2. IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) – $69.91 billion
3. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) – $59.09 billion
4. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) – $55.32 billion
5. General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) – $42.81 billion
6. McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) – $35.59 billion
7. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) – $35.22 billion
8. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) – $33.5 billion
9. Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) – $29.02 billion
10. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) – $28.48 billion

Paul Ausick

Spain Sells Bonds

The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone was put briefly on pause. Spain sold more than double its target of bonds today, and the rates it paid were unexpectedly low. The nation’s treasury raised 10 billion euros from the auction of three bonds. Spain planned to sell only five billion. Yields dropped by about 1 percentage point from the mid-December auction. It is an early sign that the tremendous amount of debt that financially weak nations in the region must raise to roll over old paper, and additionally to cover deficits, may not have to be done at unsustainable rates.

More Bank Layoffs

The bloodletting in the financial services industry is hardly over. RBS (NYSE: RBS), the largest state-owned bank in the UK, will cut 3,500 jobs in its investment bank. UBS (NYSE: UBS) made cuts last month. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has laid off bankers and traders. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), desperate to prove its viability, will cut 30,000 positions. Banks, which made a modest earnings recovery after the recession, are in trouble again. The mortgage crisis has not passed. Financial firms both hold home loans and are under attack for lending practices and their habit of bundling mortgages and selling them to other financial companies. Investment bank work has all but disappeared as corporations have drawn back on M&A and issuance of debt and equity. Finally, the consumer banking business has become more automated each year. The branches where individuals and small business banks went for loans and mortgages are barely useful anymore.

Chinese Auto Sales

The Chinese auto market is not as attractive to international manufacturers as it once was. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported that car and light truck sales rose only 2.5% in 2011. China is still the world largest market with 18.5 million sales last year. That is at least five million more than the U.S. But the Chinese market has become very crowded. Sales leaders General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Volkswagen have become the envy of their rivals. Japanese car companies Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC) have rushed into the market, as has GM’s American rival Ford (NYSE: F). Luxury manufacturers BMW and Mercedes have found a rich market among China’s growing upper classes. In addition, Chinese manufacturers will not be elbowed aside. What is now the largest car market has become among the most competitive.

Douglas A.McIntyre

First among the car firms that expect huge growth is Volkswagen, which did well in the U.S. and China in 2011. The American market has been a troubling one for VW, though. Its market share in the U.S. is still small. And America is still the second-largest car market in the world after China, so results in the U.S. are very important. VW also expects sharp sales gains in China, as does almost every other multinational car company. In the meantime, car and light vehicle sales in the People’s Republic have slowed. The market’s pie, which represents more than 16 million new sales a year, has not expanded much recently.

Toyota (NYSE: TM), Honda (NYSE: HMC) and Nissan expect to pick up sales in every portion of the world, now that each has reached full production. The Japanese earthquake in March knocked many of their factories and those of suppliers off line. Toyota and Honda expect to regain much of their lost market share in the U.S. America car companies and rapidly growing South Korean brands Hyundai and Kia expect to add market share as well.

VW expects American car and light vehicle sales to rise 10% this year. Total sales of cars and light trucks in the American are expected to rise from 12.8 million in 2011 to about a million more than that in 2012. That hardly means that all of the major car companies can pick up one or two share points. Even the expanding U.S. market cannot be larger than 100%.

Luxury car companies have made claims similar to their larger competitors. BMW says it will have record sales this year. So do Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Ford (NYSE: F) has forecast an improvement in its troubled Lincoln luxury brand. General Motors (NYSE: GM) says the resurrection of its Cadillac brand will continue. Lexus, Infiniti and Acura — each of which is part of a large Japanese multinational manufacturer — all expect improvement as their production facilities renew full output.

The Detroit auto show is this week. Almost every manufacturer will forecast large gains in both sales and market share. Not everyone can be right. But executives cannot help themselves. Everyone’s shareholders want to hear how great things will be now that the recession in car sales has, to some extent, ended.

Douglas A. McIntyre

On its way to a big year, Chrysler passed Nissan in domestic sales for 2011. It nearly caught quality leader Honda. It had only two vehicles in the top 20 in sales for the month of November — the last for which numbers are available. Both were light trucks — the Dodge Ram and Jeep Grand Cherokee. That means Chrysler had to post relatively strong, but not breathtaking, sales across the balance of its product line.

Chrysler was particularly adept at one of the oldest tricks in the industry. It reintroduced models that have done well in the past, but not recently. These vehicles already have brand recognition. They probably could sell well again, if they were updated and improved. Advertising costs for these are likely to be less than for entirely new nameplates. Chrysler gave its 300 series a facelift, better engines and more features. It replaced its aged Jeep Grand Cherokee with one that was almost completely overhauled. It brought the Challenger and Charger, two of the older brands among American muscle cars, back into the market.

Chrysler outsmarted most other car companies because it had no choice. It lacks the balance sheet that most of its larger rivals have. It lacks the budget for ad campaigns that would match its peers. It has a relatively small dealer network. Its product development and management operations are modest. And Chrysler had to handle a transition from a U.S.-managed company to one run by the Italians from Fiat.

Chrysler, the 98-pound weakling among the manufactures that sell cars in America, was more nimble that its competition, and it showed.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The forecast comes from truecar.com and should be welcome news for automakers General Motors Col (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM). Unfortunately for Honda and Toyota, sales from both are expected to decline.

In December, sales of GM cars is expected to rise by 29.4% compared with November sales, while Ford sales are expected to rise by 22.1%. Honda’s sales are expected to decline by -29.9% in the month and Toyota’s sales are expected to fall by -26.4%.

GM is also expected to lead the industry in market share in December, with 19.6%, followed by Ford with 16.6% and Toyota with 15.5%. Honda is expected to post share of 11.3% in December.

Another bit of good news is that the cost of incentives is dropping for most makers. As a group, these four plus Hyundai/Kia, Nissan, and Chrysler will spend about 3% less this year in December on buyer incentives. The average new car incentive is $2,562 in December.

The highest percentage growth for the full year goes to Hyundai/Kia, which is expected to sell nearly 40% more cars this year than it did in 2010. Sales of Chrysler cars are expected to rise by 33.8%, but from a very low base.

Paul Ausick

Bank of Japan says it will hold to current policies as the economy in the Asian nation has weakened. (Reuters)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) considered buying Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). (Reuters)

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) puts a large investment into its new Star Wars: The Old Republic. (Reuters)

The Federal Reserve offers new rules to cut risk-taking by U.S. banks. (Reuters)

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) misses estimates and shares fall 8%. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) may buy Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) or Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) now that its T-Mobile bid is over. (Reuters)

HTC begins to test new models after a patent suit loss to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (Reuters)

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) buys HSBC’s (NYSE: HBC) Japan private bank. (Reuters)

Chinese hackers hit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (WSJ)

Some $200 million may have been transferred from MF Global accounts to JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). (WSJ)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) considered a bid for RIM. (WSJ)

Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN) may pass Burger King in sales. (WSJ)

Honda (NYSE: HMC) to shift more production to the North America. (WSJ)

A lack of action by Congress could raise payroll taxes to 6.2% and eliminate long-term unemployment payments. (WSJ)

Fund Starboard Value attacks Aol (NYSE: AOL) for its ongoing plans to invest in content. (WSJ)

LightSquared pushes the FCC to approve its service, which some think interferes with GPS devices. (WSJ)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission says firms must disclose data on trading over-the-counter securities. (WSJ)

Bill Gross’s Total Return Fund will have its first outflow since 1987. (WSJ)

Spain’s borrowing costs drop as it auctions new bonds. (WSJ)

EU banks probably will take advantage of new European Central Bank loans. (FT)

Troubled EU banks sell more mortgage securities. (FT)

French banks will try to raise $48 billion to satisfy debt needs. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

November car sales numbers were telling in several ways. SUV sales picked up. Perhaps American believe the drop in gas prices will be long-lived. If not, drivers with the large trucks face several years of expensive motoring. Japanese car companies continued to lose ground, with the exception of Nissan. Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC) still have production disruption problems due to the March earthquake. November U.S. sales also showed the continued rising success of American car companies. All three posted substantial gains. The most impressive of them was Chrysler, which said units sold increased 45% over November of last year. The company sold more than 100,000 cars and light trucks last month. It is a compelling victory for a company that went through Chapter 11 just three years ago. It is also a victory for Fiat, which now owns Chrysler.

Retail results for November and third-quarter earnings from some store chains were another indication that several companies are now permanently out of the race for profits and better revenue. Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) posted poor quarterly results. Its store sales were weak and its investment in e-commerce expensive. The book company has battled Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) for years, and it is more clear with each quarter that the fight is one it cannot win. Weak retailers like Talbots (NYSE: TLB), Gap (NYSE: GPS) and Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) continued to get weaker. Their competitions have overwhelmed them in price, store configuration and location, and e-commerce efforts. Those are not advantages that can be overcome.

Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chrome browser passed Firefox as the second most used product in the business. It sits behind only Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Internet Explorer. The gains could be critical to Google’s advances into businesses like social networking. The Google browser bar offers rapid access to its products, such as social network launch Google+. Microsoft loses chances to promote its products in the browser space as its share shrinks. The Chrome advance is another example of how Google has pushed into businesses beyond search. The most prominent of these is the Android mobile OS. But Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube and Google’s image search product are parts of the largest search company’s success in diversification.

Douglas A. McIntyre