http://network.nationalpost.com/np/.../2008/10/09/ford-shares-cheaper-than-gas.aspx
Ford shares cheaper than gas
Posted: October 09, 2008, 10:55 AM by Nicolas Van Praet
Shares in Detroit's two publicly-traded automakers plunged Thursday over concern they may run out of money to fund their turnarounds before U.S. auto sales rebound.
General Motors Corp. stock fell nearly 15% in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, dropping below US$6 a share for the first time since the summer of 1951, according to MarketWatch.
Shares in Ford Motor Co. sank 4% to US$2.55, making one Ford share cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the United States.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline cost $3.18 in Detroit and $3.36 nationally as of Thursday morning, gasbuddy.com reported on its website.
Sales at the six largest auto-makers in the United States tumbled 27% collectively in September from a year earlier, an almost unprecedented drop that caps the longest U. S. industry-wide sales slide in 17 years. As the U.S. new-vehicle retail market continues to deteriorate, new-vehicle retail sales are projected to end 2008 at 10.8 million units, which is 2 million units below 2007 sales, J.D. Power and Associates said in a new forecast Thursday.
"Buyers are both voluntarily and involuntarily exiting the U.S. new-vehicle market," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of automotive forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. "The additional decline in expected vehicle sales is a function of growing concerns around availability of credit and leasing, declines in vehicle equity and general economic stress."
Investors are growing increasingly worried that GM and Ford in particular will not be able to offset weak domestic sales with international growth. Sales in emerging markets such as China are slowing as well.
GM is considering selling its Detroit headquarters, the Renaissance Center, and leasing it back to shore up cash.
Ford shares cheaper than gas
Posted: October 09, 2008, 10:55 AM by Nicolas Van Praet
Shares in Detroit's two publicly-traded automakers plunged Thursday over concern they may run out of money to fund their turnarounds before U.S. auto sales rebound.
General Motors Corp. stock fell nearly 15% in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, dropping below US$6 a share for the first time since the summer of 1951, according to MarketWatch.
Shares in Ford Motor Co. sank 4% to US$2.55, making one Ford share cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the United States.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline cost $3.18 in Detroit and $3.36 nationally as of Thursday morning, gasbuddy.com reported on its website.
Sales at the six largest auto-makers in the United States tumbled 27% collectively in September from a year earlier, an almost unprecedented drop that caps the longest U. S. industry-wide sales slide in 17 years. As the U.S. new-vehicle retail market continues to deteriorate, new-vehicle retail sales are projected to end 2008 at 10.8 million units, which is 2 million units below 2007 sales, J.D. Power and Associates said in a new forecast Thursday.
"Buyers are both voluntarily and involuntarily exiting the U.S. new-vehicle market," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of automotive forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. "The additional decline in expected vehicle sales is a function of growing concerns around availability of credit and leasing, declines in vehicle equity and general economic stress."
Investors are growing increasingly worried that GM and Ford in particular will not be able to offset weak domestic sales with international growth. Sales in emerging markets such as China are slowing as well.
GM is considering selling its Detroit headquarters, the Renaissance Center, and leasing it back to shore up cash.
