What the heck is going on with General Motors?

[brimic]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060126/gm_kerkorian.html?.v=4

Everyone seems to be down on GM and Ford, Ford's stock price has been taking a beating and they announced massive restructuring. Now huge institutional investors are pouring money into GM today and are pushing for a restructuring and a cut in the dividend.  Tomorow, GM is having an earnings conference call.

GM seems to be the pariah of stocks lately if one pays attention to the news and especially 'stock picking experts' yet I bought it at 19 at the beginning of the year and its already at 24 and there seems to be a whole lot of planets aligning this week for the corporation. I'm not sure if I should sell, buy some more, or buy a lot more shares.

[280plus]

That's why playing the market is really just another fancy casino game. Me? I'd just hold what I have and watch. But that depends on how much you stand to lose. My uncle likes the 10% rule. If you've made OR lost 10% it's time to get out.

[Guest]

GM has pension fund debt the way...God, what do you compare it to?  The way John Kerry has ethical problems?  Where do you even start?

[Iain]

I was going to start a thread about stockmarket ideas actually.

Been playing an online imaginary stockmarket type game where you buy shares in sportsmen and women. Share price is fuelled by supply and demand as per normal. Bought a ton of Roger Federer shares as the Australian Open is presently playing. Bought them at £10.10 per share just before the fourth round (expensive, but he is the best player in the world) Over the next few days, despite two wins (both 5 set matches though) his share price crashed to £7.40. Now he is in the semi-final it has started to recover and is now over £9. All seems weird to me. Afraid to say that I didn't stick with it, but bought into Hingis on Monday and got a £5,000 dividend payment from her this morning despite her loss to Clijsters.

[280plus]

God, what do you compare it to?

Exactly!

Sounds like a cool game Iain. It shows you just how unpredictable things can be.

I was thinking I should add that I don't put more than ~$3000 - $4000 tops in any one place so this is why I would hold. If you have a substantial amount more I might suggest finding somewhere else a bit more stable if you're ahead right now. Like I said, you're really just gambling with it.

[The Rabbi]

GM has enormous problems that go back a long way.  They are probably unsolvable in the current environment.  I suspect a bankruptcy for the company is coming this year, in part to pressure the unions to change.  The dividend will certainly be cut.
I bought Ford convertible preferreds about 3 weeks ago and have been very pleased.  Still a lot of upside there.  Ford is in much better shape.

[280plus]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=2y&s=GM&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=&c=%5EDJI

I will now analyze and translate this chart for you.

GET THE HELL OUT!!

Thank you...

[brimic]

They announced a 4 billion loss, I guess its time to take my winnings and run.

[The Rabbi]

That might be just the time to get in.

But I stand by waht I said, the co has huge problems and I think a div cut is very likely and a b/k filing is in the cards.
Bush gave an interview reported in today's WSJ where he said there will be no bail-out.

[charby]

GM problems run far and deep, there isn't one exact explanation and it would take hours to scratch the surface. Greed is a major component of a lot of it, greed of the union, management and share holders.

[brimic]

That might be just the time to get in.

I had the same thoughts, but I'm already up enough that I don't want to take any losses I was in at around 19 at the beginning of the year, I placed an order for another 100 shares early this morning just in case there were some good news to come out- bought in at 22.65, sold out at 22.55,  lost a few dollars in an hours time, not much of a big deal. Still made out with over $600 on the upside, I guess I'll take that over a month's time without complaining much.

I had read that the CEO predicted that they had (using very fast and loose numbers) 30Biliion of cash on hand and if they sustained losses comparable to the first half of last year, they could operate for another 3 years. If they continue the trend of loosing 4-5billion a quarter as they announced now, and they only have 1/2 as much cash on hand, they will be deep in the red by the end of the year.

I still can't figure out why Kirk Kerkorian and Tracinda bought 250 million in shares yesterday.

[280plus]

That might be just the time to get in.

Very true...

HAH!! Yesterday was .32 H&R Magnum day, today must be agree with Rabbi day...

[280plus]

I still can't figure out why Kirk Kerkorian and Tracinda bought 250 million in shares yesterday.

Yea, there's something funny going on and I don't mean funny hah hah either. I saw they were down over ~ $1.10 earlier today. I'll go look now...

[280plus]

Yep 11:10 EST they're down $1.16 to $22.69. Over 4%...

Athough that IS over $22.55 I hate to say...

[brimic]

ep 11:10 EST they're down $1.16 to $22.69. Over 4%...

Athough that IS over $22.55 I hate to say...

I'm watching the price, the words 'rocket sled to hell' come to mind. It will probably close lower than 20 today.

[El Tejon]

What's going on?  Just union chickens coming home to roost!:D

[280plus]

Gm is now down over 6% in heavy volume while the market is UP 100 pts. That is NEVER a good sign.

[Guest]

Merle Haggard said it best..

"Now we're rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell..."

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

There's a great stock market game at http://investsmart.coe.uga.edu/c001759/stocksquest/mystocks.htm

You can try out strategies and such, and is uses actual market data and keeps up with your portfolio, et cetera.  I have not put it through its paces in 5 or 6 years, but I remember being VERY impressed.

One other thing: anyone ever heard of Paytrading?  www.paytrading.com.  Interesting concept in his free, downloadable e-book that seems to limit downside and guarantee (based on historical performance) success over the long haul.  

You can download the free e-book here: http://www.paytrading.com/paytrading/ebook.htm if anyone is so motivated, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

[Standing Wolf]

General Motors is what you get when you combine decades' worth of incompetent management and decades' worth of union greed: a very large company that can't compete in the world market.

How long before some self-appointed genius demands that the federal government bail out GM with your hard-earned tax dollars and mine?

I predict the company will be broken up, and parts will be bought by Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Honda, et cetera. Companies that emulate the Republicrat and Democan parties are doomed to failunless, of course, they have plenty of federal financial support.

[280plus]

How long before some self-appointed genius demands that the federal government bail out GM with your hard-earned tax dollars and mine?

Wolf is reading my mind.

[Sindawe]

How long before some self-appointed genius demands that the federal government bail out GM with your hard-earned tax dollars and mine?

Its the 1980s all over again!  I even saw a kid with a key-lime pie green mohawk today.

[The Rabbi]

General Motors is what you get when you combine decades' worth of incompetent management and decades' worth of union greed: a very large company that can't compete in the world market.

How long before some self-appointed genius demands that the federal government bail out GM with your hard-earned tax dollars and mine?

I predict the company will be broken up, and parts will be bought by Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Honda, et cetera. Companies that emulate the Republicrat and Democan parties are doomed to failunless, of course, they have plenty of federal financial support.

Bush was interviewed and categorically denied he would consider it.  Front page of today's WSJ.
That may have worked for Chrysler in the '70s but that was then, this is now.
Parenthetically, I have noticed many of the stupid ideas of the '70s re-emerging.  Anyone else notice this?  I'm about to get my "KC and Sunshine Band" records out..

[telewinz]

The government won't bail out the auto makers anymore than they did the steel companies.  Natural selection and economics at work.  Remember, China pays it's auto workers $3.50 an hour plus complete benefits.  I couldn't care less about the auto workers blight, there are plenty of minimum wage workers in this country, always has been.  If they don't have a useful skill to market (straight from HS to the auto plant?) they can flip burgers, pick fruit out west, deliver pizza, or migrate to china.  I buy by value...not where it was made.  If that hurts the auto workers or helps china matters little.  Surprised?  Well why is that banana your eating so cheap or those shoes on your feet?

[Guest]

Stock tip:

Sell Diebold.

There's a shareholder's conference and earnings call coming the 31st of Jan.  Predictions are uuuugly.  They're down a point and a half today alone, and this is after a good-sized crash about six-seven months ago that's led to a major stockholder's suit (actually several but they'll consolidate soon).

It's not just about the elections biz.  Debit card readers at grocery stores, gas stations and the like are slaughtering the ATM biz.