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.

GM profit tumbles in third quarter
Automaker General Motors (NYSE: GM) earned $1.7 billion in the last quarter, coming in ahead of analyst estimates despite falling 15% from a year ago. GM posted a loss in Europe for the quarter and said it wouldn't be able to break even in Europe this year. GM's stock opened down 8% this morning. Read the full story at Yahoo! Finance.

Stocks fall on eurozone unease
The eurozone debt crisis has shifted focus from Greece to Italy as Italian borrowing costs begin to boil over into bailout territory. The crisis in Europe threatens to weaken global financial markets and stall economic growth worldwide. Around 10:15 a.m., the Dow was down 259 points, while the S&P 500 had fallen 2.3%, and the Nasdaq was down 2.5%. Read the full story at Reuters.

Rivals take on Google in online ads
Three of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) biggest rivals have teamed up to sell each others' unsold online banner ads. The deal, set to begin in January, is an alliance among Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), and AOL (NYSE: AOL). Together, the companies hope to shake Google's control of sales in online advertising. Read the full story at BBC.

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