GM shares nearly double from historic low
GM shares nearly double from historic low
Ford up; Gates buzz drives AutoNation shares
Automotive News | July 23, 2008 - 4:35 pm EST
DETROIT — Shares of General Motors today reached levels that nearly doubled their value from half-century lows set earlier this month.
GM shares closed at $14.58 a share, up 26 cents, or 1.82 percent. Shares of GM had traded as high as $16.43, or up almost $1.75 a share, in earlier trading today. Earlier this month, GM’s stock price had fallen to as low as $8.81 a share.
The roller-coaster day on the stock market followed GM reporting that its global sales totaled 4.5 million vehicles in the first six months of this year, with rapid growth overseas.
Sales outside North America grew 10 percent, or 116,000 vehicles. Despite record sales in Latin America, Asia and Europe, global sales fell 2.9 percent in the first half of the year.
In the second quarter alone, global sales fell 5 percent, including a 20 percent drop in sales for North America compared with the same period in 2007.
Also helping GM’s case on Wall Street are daily drops in oil futures prices, which slipped more than $20 a barrel from just weeks ago.
Oil today dropped $2.74 to $125.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. shares finished trading at $6.03 a share, up 19 cents, or 3.25 percent. Ford will report its second-quarter sales Thursday, July 24, and could have another good showing on Wall Street.
According to multiple media reports this week, Ford will announce plans to bring small cars it makes for Europe to the United States, which could draw interest from investors.
In the auto retail arena, shares of AutoNation Inc. closed at $9.39, up 22 cents or 2.4 percent. AutoNation shares have been on the rise this week following disclosures that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and his charitable trust acquired a 5.5 percent stake in the nation’s largest auto dealership group.
