Will General Motors (GM) be forced into bankruptcy next week, or won't it?


That's the million-dollar question the business press cannot seem to agree on this morning. But what is absolute is that GM has reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union that, according to the Detroit Free Press, "ultimately could give the union safer footing if the troubled automaker files for Chapter 11 reorganization."
The Wall Street Journal leads with a potential downgrade to Great Britain's bond rating by Standard & Poor's Rating Service, which has changed its outlook on the country to negative. According to Bloomberg, GMAC (GMA), GM's finance and lending arm, has received $7.5 billion from the U.S. Treasury to expand auto lending at Chrysler and was cleared to sell government-backed debt for the first time.

American International Group (AIG) announced Thursday that Chief Executive Edward Liddy plans to step down after a tumultuous eight months at the helm of the polemical insurer, and, finally, Florida's BankUnited (BKUNA) was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., marking the biggest bank failure this year.