General Motors Corp. (GM) will meet with the U.S. Treasury department’s automotive task force as soon as this week to work on a plan to return the automaker to viability. But while company executives assert that bankruptcy is far from inevitable GM is accelerating preparations for a court filing. 

U.S. President Barack Obama has decided against naming a “car czar,” and is instead asking U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence H. “Larry” Summers to head a task force on revamping the U.S. auto industry, Bloomberg News reported yesterday (Monday).

U.S. companies that make and supply auto-parts to major carmakers are pleading for a bailout from Washington, as many are now on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. Auto-parts companies may seek between $10 billion and $12 billion in cash and guarantees from the federal government as soon as this week.

Rattner Floated as Car Czar; Sources: Barclays Planning 2,100 Lay Offs; BG Group Pumping Billions into Brazil Oil; Pfizer Cutting 800 Research Posts; Oil Snaps Week-Long Skid; Commercial Banks Borrowing Less Than Investment Banks; Companies Scramble to Fill Pension Plan Gaps

Joining a chorus of ailing U.S. automakers, Toyota Motor Co. (TM) yesterday (Monday) forecast its first operating loss in 71 years on plummeting demand and sharp appreciation of the Japanese yen. The announcement prompted Moody’s Investors Service to consider downgrading the company’s top-rated credit.

Dollar up vs yen as BOJ warns of further export woes…  Euro gains broadly; doubts about U.S. auto bailout loom… Market expects ECB rate cut; policy-makers seem divided

Goldman cuts 2009 oil price forecast… OPEC should make severe output cut, says president… Russia says ready to work with OPEC on output cuts

As the Senate meets today (Monday) to discuss what to do with the eviscerated U.S. auto industry, some strong words from one of the Senate’s most powerful member suggested a much-debated bailout could come with some strings attached for top executives.

Global stocks decline as gloomy economic news flow resumes… Euro zone services activity falls to a fresh record low… Central banks expected to cut rates aggressively… MSCI World stock index down 0.4 percent

Dollar weakens against euro as U.S. equities gain… Oil recovers from 3-1/2 year low … Traders look to U.S. auto sales figures to guide platinum