Pundits greeted Angela Merkel’s convincing election win in Germany Sunday with a collective yawn. Commentators think the German economy is sluggish and over-dependent on exports, and believe that a change in the German government from a grand coalition to a center-right coalition will make little policy difference.

Many commentators have picked the East Asian economies of China, Korea and Taiwan to emerge the most vigorously from the ongoing global financial crisis.

Abu Dhabi Buys Daimler Stake; Tata Launches Nano; Walgreen Beats 2Q Estimates; Banks Hurt by Plunging Commercial Property Prices; Gannett Furloughs Workers Again; Oil Nears 3-Month High; TreeHouse Foods Climbs on Private-Label Buying

The U.S. Treasury Department has rejected General Motors Corp.’s (GM) request of $10 billion in assistance for its potential merger with Chrysler LLC after the Bush Administration decided it didn’t want to broaden its $700 billion financial rescue program to include industrial companies – or to play a role in a GM-Chrysler merger that could cost the U.S. economy tens of thousands of jobs, The New York Times reported yesterday (Monday).

Visa and MasterCard Settle Up; Daimler’s Plant Closures; Apple’s Christmas Bargain; Johnson Controls’ Weak Outlook; Gas Prices Down 23% From July; U.S. Budget Deficit the Highest Ever; Pepsi Fizzles

Oil Prices Slide on Demand Drop; Home Prices and Sales Fall in August; Nike Adjusted Earnings Up 10%; GM to Sell Strasbourg Plant; Digg’s New Dough; Ad Sales Slump; Yahoo’s New Ad Platform; Daimler Trying to Unload Chrysler

With the U.S. auto market increasingly focused on practicality and fuel-efficiency, Chrysler LLC announced yesterday (Wednesday) it was entertaining offers for its Dodge Viper sports car.

In currency news, the dollar was up again against the euro. The euro was trading at $1.5674 late Thursday vs. $1.5690 on Wednesday.

Nuclear energy is the future again, says Andrew Gordon in Investor’s Daily Edge Unplugged. And uranium stocks are cheap right now. High gas prices are changing energy habits in the US. And nuclear offers a ‘clean’ solution…