1. A Chinese company now owns an automaker that will build and sell cars in the U.S. – a first.

2. That company – Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery – doesn’t even make cars. For its first foray into passenger automaking, it’s chosen Hummer, perhaps the world’s most challenging and polarizing brand.

3. Business is so booming at Tengzhong HIM (its core is road construction and energy equipment) that the company will completely self-finance the deal…not one yuan borrowed from the Chinese government.

4. While neither party will disclose the price, Hummer was likely sold for a song…less than $500 million.

5. The White House is billing it as a victory: It’s “good news for the 3,000 Americans who will be able to keep their jobs, the two American plants that will remain open and the more than 100 Hummer dealers that should be able to stay in business all around the country,” said Bill Burton, a presidential spokesman.

6. Tengzhong claims its long-term goal is to make Hummer a legit brand in China, where there’s already demand for the vehicle that embodies American excess and overcompensation.

We’d be delighted if the Hummer takes off over there…nothing wrong with making something that China wants to buy. And if Americans stop buying them, even better…

…would you really miss these things?

Commodity futures transactions on Chinese exchanges are up 60% from this time last year, reports the Chinese Futures Association. Chinese traders and resource users traded 138 million lots in May alone, worth $1.3 trillion. That’s a 60% spike in volume from 2008 and an 85% leap in cost.

“The Chinese national strategy,” explains Byron King, “is to go around the world and secure energy and other natural resources for the balance of the 21st century.

“The Chinese are buying up oil and natural gas resources, as you surely know. They’re making deals with the Venezuelans and Iranians for energy development. They’re making deals in Iraq for energy. They’re financing the development of Brazil’s deep offshore oil deposits.

“And the Chinese are locking up other natural resources. They’re making deals from Australia to Brazil over coal and iron ore resources. They’re building copper mines from Congo to Afghanistan. They’ve secured 97% (no typo, 97%) of the world’s known deposits of rare earths. And the Chinese are buying up entire forests in South America.

“Meanwhile, China is the world’s largest gold-producing nation. Yet China’s net exports of gold are zero. China imports far more gold than it exports. China keeps its gold at home. China is building its own national gold reserve, and monetizing it by buying and allocating much of its mine production of yellow metal to the state bank. China trusts the U.S. dollar about as far as Tim Geithner can throw the Great Wall.”

Source: Chinese Hummers Just a Sign of the Times

GM and the other big-three Detroit automakers have feasted on the fast-growing market for pickup trucks and SUVs for years. But with gas now above US$4 a gallon and climbing fast, big-rig drivers are mailing their keys back to the auto finance companies today.

I’ve talked to a half-dozen people in just the past few weeks who are ALL trying to unload their big gas-guzzling trucks or SUVs. One friend of mine drives a Chevy Suburban: GM’s top-of-the-line road hog. She’s had it for sale over a month now…No takers. In fact, even the local Chevy dealer won’t take it!

Anyway, back to the GM shareholder meeting…In its quest to stop bleeding red-ink, GM is backing-up its entire business plan. The company is shuttering four U.S. production plants – all of which built trucks or SUVs.

“Higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior, and they are significantly affecting the U.S. auto industry sales mix,” says CEO Rick Wagoner. Imagine that!

Now that US$2 gas is gone forever, GM has very high-hopes for its plug-in electric hybrids. GM should have made that switch years ago, rather than being asleep at the wheel and building Hummers instead.

You may not find these battle-ready Hummers on GM car lots much longer – but be sure to look for sleek new plug-ins coming to a dealer near you for the 2010 model year.

MIKE BURNICK, Senior Editor & Global Markets Analyst

EDITOR’S NOTE: The days of $2 a gallon gas may be gone forever. As this crude-reality sinks in, you’ll see a major switch toward hybrid cars, and other alternative energy investments. In fact, it’s already started. Read our special report: How to Profit from the Great Fuel Revolution to find out where this investment money is headed now.

Source: No More Hummers in America – Shocker!