At The Motley Fool, we know our readers like to be informed. Here's a quick look at today's most relevant financial news, boiled down to what you need to know.

American Airlines seeks Chapter 11 protection
The parent company of American Airlines, AMR (NYSE: AMR), filed for bankruptcy after failing to reach labor agreements with pilots, which would have helped the airline cut costs. The Texas-based company listed $24.72 billion in assets and $29.55 billion in liabilities in its Chapter 11 filings. Read the full story at Reuters.

GM offers loaners to ease safety concerns
Detroit automaker General Motors (NYSE: GM) made a PR push letting drivers know that its battery-powered Chevrolet Volt is safe. The company is offering loaner vehicles to concerned Volt owners after a series of fires occurred in its lithium-ion batteries during crash tests.

Battery safety issues could hurt other EV carmakers. However, Nissan Motor (OTC: NSANY) and Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) electric vehicles have not reported any fires, despite their models also running on lithium-ion batteries. Read the full story at Bloomberg.

iPad threatened by sales of cheaper tablets
iPad maker Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) could lose its firm grip on the tablet market as cheaper devices operating on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android system gain popularity. Sales of Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle devices were at an all-time high after the Thanksgiving weekend. Read the full story at Bloomberg.

That's a wrap
So there you have it -- the top financial stories of the day. If you are interested in getting all the news and commentary on these stocks, sign up to My Watchlist here -- it's free!