General Motors President Dan Ammann said his company’s recent problems over the ignition switch recall have had no “measurable impact” on current sales, citing as evidence, “We gained retail share in March. April seems to be off to a pretty decent start as well”……The Wall Street Journal says Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally will likely retire by the end of this year, with COO Mark Fields as his successor……Automotive News reports AutoNation Chief Mike Jackson is going public about his displeasure with the high fees dealers have to pay third-party lead providers such as TrueCar, AutoTrader.com and Cars.com. Fees can runs about $300 for each lead converted into a new vehicle sale, and some big dealerships lay out as much as $20,000 a month for subscriptions. Jackson was blunt, Saying, “You give me more attractive pricing, we’ll do business for a long time. You jack the rates, I have attractive alternatives”……Taco Bell’s breakfast introduction is already viewed as a success and the chain’s TV advertising is getting a lot of credit for the win, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. A study done by Brandindex found that 46% of respondents were aware of Taco Bell advertising and “the Ronald McDonald thing was clever and grabbed a lot of attention.” And Brandindex also said McDonald’s buzz score went up as soon as McGriddles commercials started airing……Hasbro reported a quarterly profit of $32.1 million, compared to a loss of $6.7 million in the same quarter last year. Sales of girls’ products were up 21%. And that’s in complete contrast to Mattel, which reported a quarterly loss for the first time in five years, as sales of Barbie products were down 14%…… Select Comfort quarterly sales were up 7%, but net profit was down 28% as the company spent more on marketing for new product launches. The CEO said results were in line with expectations. Almost 90% of sales come from about 440 company-owned retail stores……Express is getting into the outlet mall channel, and expects to have about 30 factory outlet stores open by the end of the year……A study commissioned by General Mills found that 89% of shoppers belong to one or more loyalty programs. 64% of respondents are in loyalty programs from supermarkets, 52% in a drugstore program, and 35% in a program run by a convenience store or gas station……The Wall Street Journal is reporting that banks have started to increase their loans to businesses again, which gives the owners the opportunity to expand their businesses.