Plagued by plummeting U.S. sales and $4-a-gallon gasoline, General Motors Corp. (GM) may sell its four-foot-tall Chevrolet Beat in U.S. markets, sources told Bloomberg News. The subcompact three-door hatchback was unveiled at last year’s New York International Car Show, though GM said it would be produced overseas and wouldn’t immediately be sold in the United States.

UBS AG (UBS) was at the center of a tornado of crushing news yesterday (Tuesday), as it announced major changes to its board amidst pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice to reveal the names of top clients taking advantage of the bank’s tax breaks.

Four of the No. 1 Swiss bank’s board members — Stephan Haeringer, Rolf Meyer, Peter Spuhler and Lawrence Weinbach — will step down at the bank’s Oct. 2 shareholder meeting.

In the frenzy of troubling news, UBS shares sank to a 10-year low, trading at $19.57 mid-afternoon Tuesday, before recovering slightly to close at $20.35.

Editor’s Note: The dollar’s weakness is gold’s strength, says Mike Caggeso. As inflation pushes the dollar downwards, it pushes gold in the opposite direction. You should invest in gold now before the Federal Reserve raises interest rates and spoils the party.

Gold jumped today in London over market fears of an Israeli attack on Iran. Bloomberg reports that gold for immediate delivery rose $5.06, or 0.6 percent, to $930.46 an ounce by 12:05 pm. Futures rose $3.50, or 0.4 percent, to $931.80 in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Citigroup Inc. (C) — still reeling from the subprime fallout — was the target of another downgrade. Goldman Sachs (GS) analyst William Tanona said the bank may suffer $8.9 billion of second-quarter writedowns and be forced to cut its dividend again.

Tanona downgraded US banks to “neutral” from “attractive” and added Citigroup to Goldman’s “Americas conviction sell” list, Reuters reported.

Baosteel Group Corp., China’s largest steel producer, will pay $4.2 billion in cash for an 80% stake in a new Guangzhou-based steel mill that will merge two rivals, Shaoguan Iron & Steel Group and Guangzhou Iron & Steel Group.

China is already the world’s top steel consumer and producer, churning out one-third of the global supply. This newly formed company, Guangdong Iron & Steel Group Corp., will boost Baosteel’s capacity by 33% to 40 million tons.