GM stock hits 54-year-low on bailout vote

David Shepardson / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. stock plunged to a 54-year-low Wednesday on the House vote to reject a $700 billion Wall Street bailout, while other auto sector stocks also were hammered.

GM stock fell 12.8 percent to $8.51, losing $1.25 a share, to fall to its lowest close since June 1954, according to the University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices.

GM’s market cap fell to $4.8 billion. The S&P 500 fell 8.8 percent, while the Nasdaq fell 9.1 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average — of which GM is a component — fell 7 percent or 778 points — its single largest one-day drop.

On a 228-205 vote, the U.S. House rejected a government plan to purchase toxic securities by the U.S. Treasury. Congressional leaders vow to try to pass a new version later this week.

Ford Motor Co. stock fell 13.3 percent to $4.17, losing $0.64 a share, hitting its lowest close since February 1986, the Chicago center said. Ford’s market capitalization fell to $9.43 billion.

Southfield-based Lear Corp. fell to its lowest level since at least 1994, closing at $10.55, down $1.20, or 10.2 percent.

Other auto stocks fell as well. Daimler AG fell $5.84, or 10.3 percent, to $50.84, while Toyota Motor Corp. fell 7.9 percent to $83.56.