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After the U.S. government bailed out Chrysler and GM in early 2009, many people were afraid it was the end of Detroit as the auto capital of the world.

But a year and a half later, GM is making big strides -- a leaner fleet with fewer brands and a lot of hype behind its innovative Volt electric car are connecting with consumers. GM made a first-quarter profit of $865 million and is expected to post a second-quarter profit Thursday, which is boosting prospects for an IPO in the coming months.

 

Chrysler, on the other hand, has failed to stop the bleeding. In its latest earnings report, Chrysler posted a deep quarterly loss of $127 million and continues to suffer from a large debt load. To top it off, the company is way behind the rest of the auto industry when it comes to cost-conscious, fuel-efficient automobiles that connect with the current market.

 

By Jeanine Poggi, TheStreet

 

Netflix (NFLX) announced a deal today that will broaden its library of streaming movies. The news comes as the movie rental retailer struggles to maintain its superior footing.

 

Netflix entered into a multi-year deal with Epix, a joint venture between Viacom (VIA) (parent company of Paramount Pictures), MGM and Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF).

 

Netflix will begin streaming their movies to customers on Sept. 1.

 

By Jake Lynch, TheStreet

 

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) was the small-cap stock pick of the Great Recession.

 

It has returned 63%, annualized, since 2007, outperforming stock market indexes by a wide margin. Meteoric expansion powered the shares. During the past three years, when the economy contracted, Green Mountain increased sales 56% a year, on average, and net income 74% a year.

A recession-tuned strategy endeared the Waterbury, Vt., company to Wall Street in 2008, and it has continued to surprise analysts and investors during the recovery with its aggressive growth.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Can the Retail HLDRs Trust (RTH), the retail ETF, hold on against the pending onslaught I see coming?

 

We got a Chinese trade surplus surprise last night that makes the yuan likely to appreciate again. That was the precipitant -- the big, bad event -- that drove RTH down to levels from which it only recently recovered.

 

It particularly affected the apparel makers -- Ralph Lauren (RL), Jones (JNY), VF Corp (VFC) and Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) -- because the "smart money" decided that China is the only place these companies import from.

 

All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve today as members of the Open Market Committee conclude their interest rate policy meeting.

 

While most Wall Street economists don't expect any radical steps to be taken, a consensus opinion is beginning to emerge: With job growth anemic, the Fed is likely to embark and a second, smaller round of quantitative easing, or QE. This would involve the Fed's reinvesting the proceeds from its existing QE-related purchases, which would keep the money supply from shrinking and ensure that long-term interest rates stay low.

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The first stage, you'll remember, started back in March 2009 and resulted in the Fed's buying up $1.4 trillion worth of U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage securities. This funneled extra cash into the capital markets and helped stabilize the economy.

 

Google and Verizon on Monday formally announced a joint agreement on handling internet content that would severely impact net neutrality.

As reported on TheWrap last week, the agreement could lead to movie studios being charged extra if they want to deliver high-quality downloads of films over the web.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg made the announcement in a call with the media. They suggested the plan would ensure freedom of choice for consumers but also let internet service providers attract the investment needed to expand and improve the speed of internet connections.

 

As the recession starts to fade away (we hope), Nascar is trying to bring fans back to the racetrack. If the fans return, then the corporate sponsors will too.

While attendance is down at most sporting events, Nascar has suffered more than other sports leagues, The New York Times reports. Even its television ratings are down, which has also killed lucrative sponsorships.

The Times asks a question the entire sport is likely grappling with: Will Nascar ever return to its cash-fueled glory days, when it could paper entire racetracks with $100 bills? 

For a while, the slowdown in North American sales in the U.S. recession obscured exactly how good a job Coach (COH) was doing at cutting costs and expanding in China. 

No more. 

Growth in North America is back, the company announced in a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report released before the New York Stock Exchange opened Tuesday.

 

After all the excitement last week about Google (GOOG) and Verizon (VZ) supposedly corrupting the Internet with a nefarious money-making plan, the two companies have issued a statement that doesn't say much.

Together, they have come up with a legislative framework proposal for lawmakers to consider. And it's all very open, saying that Internet providers shouldn't discriminate and must let users access whatever they want online, so long as it's legal.

But there's a big exception laid out for wireless companies. Not that surprising, considering Verizon is the biggest wireless player in the country. 

If your charity is looking for a large lump of cash, think about asking companies like Wal-Mart (WMT), AT&T (T) or Bank of America (BAC). In its yearly report, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported the most generous companies of 2009, and those three headline the list.

 

Wal-Mart took the top spot, having donated more than $288 million in cash last year.  AT&T and Bank of America were not far behind with $240 million and $209 million donated, respectively.  Wells Fargo (WFC) and ExxonMobil (XOM) rounded out the top five.

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While these companies certainly dished out the dough, it is worth noting that most of these giants donated much less than they had in previous years.

 

Skype, the Internet calling and video chat outfit once wholly owned by eBay (EBAY), filed plans for a public offering this morning.

The interesting part of the Skype IPO is that the amount listed was only up to $100 million and no ticker was pre-designated by Nasdaq. That is, of course, just for filing purposes and is likely to change before the formal IPO. 

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In November, eBay sold off roughly a 70% stake in the company in a private equity deal. At that time, Skype was valued at roughly $2.75 billion. EBay received roughly $1.9 billion in cash in the sale, but it also retained roughly that 30% stake. It also received a $125 million note from the buyers, and it also purchased $50 million in senior debt securities.

The $100 million is still just a tiny amount of capital for a $2.75 billion valuation from November.

 

By Don Dion, TheStreet

 

Look for the networking and agriculture sectors to move higher this week – and to take a few exchange-traded funds along with them. Gold and retail, on the other hand, may see losses. Here are five ETFs investors should keep an eye on this week.

 

1. iShares S&P GSTI Networking Index Fund (IGN)

 

This fund has nearly 9% of assets in Cisco (CSCO), which reports this week. Analyst expectations are consistent, with high and low estimates at 43 cents and 40 cents a share, respectively. Additionally, Cisco beat earnings by at least 2 cents in each of the previous four quarters.

 

In the past month, IGN has seen strength from networking holdings such as Juniper (JNPR), as well as companies involved in the smartphone industry.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

How much is Mark Hurd worth? I know that's the question people will use to determine what they will pay for HPQ.

 

I think that's the wrong question. The right question is how much is HPQ worth, and for that it's pretty simple: It's worth more than one times its growth rate, where it stands if Friday's closing price were to hold.

 

I can't say Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the stock, has been on a roll. It's been afflicted with the same atrocious action that almost all techs, with the exception of NetApp (NTAP), F5 Networks (FFIV), VMware (VMW) and Salesforce.com (CRM), have been victimized by. I can't even include Apple (AAPL) right now in the "up" stock quotient, because it's been stalled, although I think it's about to break out.

 

 

Over the past two years, the stock market has been driven largely by macroeconomic factors. That's not surprising, given just how powerful the economic winds have been. In late 2008 and early 2009, we experienced one of the worst financial crises in the country's history as the credit and housing bubbles burst. Then, the U.S. and other governments around the world sent an unprecedented wave of stimulus around the globe, helping to stabilize and jumpstart the stalled economy. Given the extreme emotions such major economic events cause, it's easy to see why hordes of investors have moved in near-lock-step in and out of the market.

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Today, there are still big macroeconomic factors in play -- the skyrocketing levels of debt at the federal and state levels is a good example. But as we move further from the epicenter of the crisis, it seems likely that we'll start to see less correlation among stocks. As is usually the case in the markets, earnings results will separate the winners from the losers. And, with many fearing a period of slower-than-usual growth, firms producing strong earnings growth figure to be particularly prized by investors.

 

If you're looking for companies likely to generate strong growth, you'd be wise to consider the writings of Martin Zweig. Zweig's stock recommendation newsletter was ranked number one based on risk-adjusted returns by Hulbert Financial Digest during the 15 years Hulbert monitored it, and the growth-rich strategy Zweig laid out in his Winning on Wall Street forms the basis for one of my more successful "Guru Strategy" computer models. In the seven-plus years I've been tracking it, a 10-stock portfolio picked with this strategy has gained 55.0%, or 6.4% per year. Over the same period, the S&P 500 has gained just 12.5%, or 1.7% per year.