General Motors' agreement to sell its Saab Automobile unit to a Swedish car maker has fallen apart, CNBC has learned, raising questions about Saab's ability to survive.

Big banks are roaring back. At crisis' edge last year, they are repaying billions of dollars dumped into their vaults to rescue them. Dividend checks are accumulating at the Treasury. Taxpayers won't recoup the full sum of the government's unprecedented infusion to the financial sector, but the returns are ahead of schedule.

U.S. carmaker General Motors will present a new viability plan for Opel in mid-December as it aims to reduce capacity across Europe by about 20 percent, a top executive said on Thursday.