From the Detroit News: GM bankruptcy filing expected 6 a.m. Monday The Obama administration will name a veteran turnaround expert as chief restructuring officer for General Motors Corp., which plans to file for bankruptcy protection about 6 a.m. Monday in New York … Al Koch, a managing director at AlixPartners LLP, will be named chief restructuring...

Courtesy of Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge In the week ended May 22, NYSE program trading dropped to a statistically significant low of 2.9 billion shares, down from 3.3 billion the week before, and from a 3.8 billion prior 52 week average. As for specific actors, no surprise, Goldman (GS) leading the government’s SLP team with a 7:1 ratio of principal...

The Weekly Economic Calendar from briefing.com. FED chairman Bernanke testifies before Congress on Wednesday at 10:00. The Latest “Trade Triangles”

The Financial Spider XLF closed back just under the broken trend line and may try a break back over it again this week. Keep a close eye on this one. Chart courtesy of StockTiger

The Dow monthly is not far from the 200-month EMA at 8666.

The U.S. GDP shrank at a 5.7% rate in the first quarter. The contraction was worse than the 5.5% decline expected by economists.

Tech companies that hit it big with one great product are often rewarded with a rich valuation. But if those companies can’t maintain a competitive advantage, that high-flying stock price quickly falls back to earth. Akamai (AKAM) continues to trend higher and looks very strong. Strong Uptrend Click Here for Complete FREE Scan AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES...

Did we really need reflation in FOOD prices? Bernanke said he could get things reflated again! YIKES! Helicopter Ben Says: “WORLD food prices are 2.2% lower now than they were at the beginning of 2008, according to The Economist’s food-price index, which has fallen by nearly a quarter since its peak in July last year. The price of wheat, which...

Tyler from Zero Hedge posted this early this morning. The New York Times reporting that according to people briefed on the matter, just over 50% of GM’s holders of $27.2 billion in bonds have agreed to support the automaker’s proposed bankruptcy plan. Apparently those 15% warrants (which could eventually bump up the bondholders’ stake...

Hoofy & Boo (Minyanville): How not to save Detroit “Chrysler is in dire straits and hoping that Fiat will save the company. Join Hoofy and Boo as they watch two turkeys combine in an ill-conceived effort to make an eagle.”

I admire the management of Ford for trying to make it through this mess without government billions. Ford had the insight to see the decline in the auto market and got financing before they had to go begging for a taxpayer bailout. From that aspect they made an excellent choice. Ford has the product portfolio and manufacturing capability to match all...

by CalculatedRisk From the WaPo: U.S. Hopes To Recoup GM Outlay In 5 Years The United States would recover most of its planned $50 billion investment in General Motors within five years, according to a preliminary Treasury Department estimate that foresees the company … Among the key variables in any such forecast is the number of new cars sold...

by Tyler Durden Of  Zero Hedge The FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund has plunged to an all time low of just $13 billion as of March 31, or 0.27% of $4.8 trillion in insured deposits. It is worth nothing that since March 31, 15 new banks have failed which includes the biggest one so far this year, BankUnited (which Marla has a special fondness...

Here is an interesting piece from Trading Wall Street Investments Following excerpted from Bob Brinker’s Marketimer newsletter: We define a secular bear megatrend as one during which the major indexes make no material and sustainable progress above their historic highs. During such extended periods, a series of cyclical bull and cyclical bear...