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People with bad credit still need to buy cars. And General Motors wants to sell to them -- if only its lender would chill out a little.

Subprime buyers received about 16% of all new vehicle loans in the fourth quarter of last year, The Associated Press reports. The auto industry depends on these people for its sales, and it needs the banks to give them loans.

GM wants to sell to more subprime buyers as it revs up for a new public stock offering. But its main lender, Ally Financial, doesn't like the risk of loaning money to people with poor credit. So GM is stuck. 

Gold's one of those commodities that enable me to join the bears without compromising my opportunist philosophy. By saying that gold is going to $2,000, as I have on "Mad Money," I am never going to be wrong.

 

I am not wrong today, for example, even though gold is down, because that's an opportunity. When you get a dip in gold, you can say "buy!" When you have a huge sell-off, you can be more bullish. When you have a run, you can take credit. It is a joyful position.

And here are the reasons:

 

 

Although stocks ended the week higher, the bears unleashed a barrage of artillery fire on Friday as all the good feelings from last weekend's European bailout gave way to renewed worries over the future of the eurozone.

 

Stocks dropped, the bond market was pressured, the euro plunged, and the dollar rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 162 points or 1.5%, capping a two-day loss of 3.2%.

 

Last week, I wrote that it was likely we would see another large decline before a sustained rebound rally got underway. We obviously got that this week. But now, there are a few glimmers of hope to lighten what was otherwise a dark and dreadful session.

 

Given the mood of the market right now, Middleby's (MIDD) earnings report Wednesday was a perfect storm of bad news. 

The supplier of commercial food service and food processing equipment missed Wall Street earnings estimates for the first quarter by eight cents a share and revenue fell by 11.5% from the first quarter of 2009.

And nobody wanted to hear a word of explanation. The stock fell on the news by 6.4% on Thursday.

 

Gotta give Google (GOOG) credit for trying, but in the end its attempt to disrupt the wireless industry fell flat.

The company is closing the online store it opened in January to sell the Nexus One phone. The idea was revolutionary: Customers would buy the phone directly from Google's online store, instead of the traditional route of going through a carrier first.

You could buy the Nexus One for $179 with a two-year plan with T-Mobile, or buy an unlocked version for $529. The future that Google envisioned was one where customers could buy any phone they wanted and then take it to their favorite carrier for service. 

Greece's debt woes and their spillover into other parts of Europe have been bad news for the euro, with the currency plummeting toward levels it hasn't seen in four years. And the pain is spilling over into the U.S. markets, hitting the major indices hard. 

 

But once the initial fears subside, will Europe's troubles, and the euro's accompanying plunge, be bad news for stock investors going forward? Not necessarily. For one thing, the recent crisis has hammered European stocks -- including those of many solid, stable companies that are now selling at bargain prices.

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For another, the euro's decline may actually help European companies that have substantial global operations, or that are major exporters. 

 

TiVo (TIVO) investors are overreacting just a little, don't you think?

Shares of the company have fallen more than 40% Friday after TiVo lost a round in court against Dish Network (DISH) and EchoStar (SATS). Now, those two companies have been given the green light to make their case again in court.

Basically, the issue revolves around whether Dish and EchoStar are using digital video recording technology that TiVo has patented. A previous court said in March that the two companies were guilty -- and TiVo shares jumped in response. 

After years of forcing customers into long-term contracts, major U.S. wireless companies are finally relenting.

They're allowing more customers to go without contracts, The Wall Street Journal reports. They're embracing prepaid services and charging by the minute.

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Sprint (S), for example, says it will only charge 7 cents a minute for some of its plans. That's about half what prepaid king TracFone Wireless charges. Even Verizon (VZ), which resisted for a long time, is starting to move into the business.

 

There's a lot of uncertainty in the oil industry right now as the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster continues to wreak political, environmental and economic havoc. BP (BP) has seen its stock dive 18% in the last month, and the rest of the sector has been fighting against the fallout as well.

 

But not all energy stocks are a bust. There's one oil stock that is up over 11% in the last 30 days -- and on top of this share appreciation, it boasts a stunning dividend yield of 12.6%.

 

 

First, let's get one thing straight: A stock split does NOT change the underlying value of a company. It's simply a repackaging. For instance, instead of selling 10 whole pies for $10 each, you cut each pie into 10 pieces and sell them for $1 each. Either way, you have $100 worth of assets.

 

So why in the world did Baidu (BIDU) get a hefty boost in share price simply from dividing its $700 shares into 10 smaller, $70 pieces?

 

Nobody can really say for sure. The answer probably involves a complicated mix of investor psychology and differences in liquidity and trading volume now that 10 times the shares are on the market. But the real question many investors should ask

 

It’s the new negative thesis: Our country's slowing. That's what swept through our markets Thursday, that we are joining Europe in a slowdown that is emanating from the consumer -- Kohl's (KSS) and now Nordstrom (JWN) and Cisco (CSCO).

 

It's rippling through the economy -- hence the decline in oil. And it's going to lead to stagflation -- hence gold. In fact, everything's bad and you have to sell everything!

There, I think that pretty much captures it. There's not much room for discussion.

 

OK, here's where I come down.

 

When I was a kid and I'd turn up my turn up my nose at a great present that wasn't exactly what I wanted, my grandmother would say, “What do you want, egg in your beer?”

Thursday, investors in Cisco Systems (CSCO) remind me of that little kid I was. They've sold off shares of Cisco by more than 4% Thursday because, in earnings announced Wednesday, the company only reported the strongest quarter in company history (said chief executive John Chambers) and didn't raise guidance for the next quarter.

Mind you, Cisco didn't cut guidance. On the conference call, the company said revenue for the next quarter -- the company's fiscal fourth quarter -- would be up 25% to 28% from the fourth quarter a year earlier. That works out to revenue of $10.6 to $10.9 billion, exactly in line with the $10.68 that Wall Street analysts had projected.

 

Adobe (ADBE) stayed pretty quiet last month as its products were brutally bashed in an essay by Apple (AAPL) chief executive Steve Jobs.

Now, Adobe has an answer. Instead of turning the other cheek, Adobe is giving Apple a big kiss -- and then a smack on the hand.

"We [heart] Apple," the company said in full-page advertisements in many major newspapers Thursday. "What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the Web."