MAN AG Buying VW Brazil Unit; Siemens Settles Probe for $2 Billion; Mattel Pays $12 Million for Tainted Toys; Ireland Banks Getting a Bailout; Housing Market Facing Confidence Collapse; Boeing Raises Dividend; U.S. Homes Lose $2 Trillion in Value

German manufacturing and engineering titan MAN AG said it will acquire Volkswagen Truck and Bus from Volkswagen AG (OTC: VLKAY). The 250-year-old MAN AG is Europe’s third-largest truckmaker, and this purchase marks its first major South American investment, Bloomberg reported. Siemens AG (ADR:SI) will pay more than $1.3 billion to settle corporate corruption charges that ...

Not every automaker CEO is down on his knees with cap in hand. Some of them are too proud to beg… and Taipan Daily won’t have to beg either with the right options strategy.

Not every auto manufacturer wants charity, you know.

While Detroit’s CEOs were up on Capitol Hill whining and begging like street junkies for a mere $25 billion to tide them over until spring, salesmen from Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati were working the floor of the Los Angeles Auto Show like madmen in an attempt to stem their stateside sales losses.

Now don’t let their $500 suits and smooth manners fool you. These guys are hurting too. Lambo’s down 15% (pretty much a match to the whole biz’ 2008 decline). And Volkswagen AG’s Bentley (VLKAY) group has slipped a whopping 30%.

No Pain Here

Perhaps the folks who buy BMWs and Mercedes are up against it right now. But

...

Short-sellers scrambling for cover sent shares of Volkswagen AG (OTC ADR: VLKAY) rocketing up more than $1,000 each Tuesday, to briefly give the German automaker the most valuable market capitalization in the world.

Volkswagen’s Frankfurt-traded shares soared as high as $1,258 (1,005 euros) before closing at $1,186 (918 euros) yesterday.

On Monday, Porsche SE (PINK: POAHF) announced it had acquired options on 31.5% of Volkswagen’s stock, in addition to the 42.6% direct stake it already controlled. With the German state of Lower Saxony controlling another 20.2% of Volkswagen stock, that left a very small amount of shares available for short-sellers who had bet on a decline in Volkswagen’s share price - given the poor outlook for the global auto industry - to cover their “short” positions.

“We’re getting a sense of the Sturm und Drang in the markets now,” Michael Holland, the manager of Holland & Co., an investment management firm,

...

Short-sellers scrambling for cover sent shares of Volkswagen AG (OTC ADR: VLKAY) rocketing up more than $1,000 each yesterday (Tuesday), to briefly give the German automaker the most valuable market capitalization in the world. Volkswagen’s Frankfurt-traded shares soared as high as $1,258 (1,005 euros) before closing at $1,186 (918 euros) yesterday. On Monday, Porsche SE (PINK: POAHF) announced it had acquired options on 31.5% of Volkswagen’s stock, in addition to the 42.6% direct stake it already controlled. With the German state of Lower Saxony controlling another 20.2% of Volkswagen stock, that left a very small amount of shares available for short-sellers who had bet on a decline in Volkswagen’s share price - given the poor outlook for the global auto industry - to cover their "short" positions. "We’re getting a sense of the Sturm und Drang in the markets ...

Take our quiz: Is the market even close to normal anymore?… Credit freeze continues to thaw… Mayer and Denning on what companies need to rebound… Home prices fall again, consumer confidence crashes, but market rallies? … Eric Fry on when this global financial trauma will come to an end… Plus, want a DVD copy of I.O.U.S.A.? Get the details below…

Pop quiz: The biggest company in the world? Nope, not Exxon Mobil, not today anyway. Would you believe…

Oh, how twisted the markets have become.

In European trading this morning, shares of Volkswagen AG leapt 93% when word leaked that Porsche would be upping its stake from 49% to 75% — a controlling stake of the company. Buyers rushed in, short sellers were squeezed (big-time) and, for a

...

Demand Drops Crude; Volkswagen Races Ahead; Yen’s Strength Sinks Stocks; Verizon Dials Up Gains; Sept. Home Sales Up; Wal-Mart Scales Back; Citi Rejects Goldman Merger

Crude oil for December delivery declined 1.4% yesterday (Monday) with a 93-cent drop to close at $63.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures are down 57% from the July 11 record of $147.27 and 31% down from a year ago, Bloomberg News reported.  “With all of the stock markets going down, there’s going to continue to be downward pressure,” said Michael Fitzpatrick, vice president for energy risk management at MF Global Ltd. (MF) in New York. “There’s not a lot that can be done to stop this downward spiral right ...