GM tumbles to 54-year low as overall market drops; Kramer Warns "Get out of Stocks"

[Ming]

GM tumbles to 54-year low as overall market drops
October 6, 2008
11:25 AM ET

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged to their lowest level in more than 54 years Monday, amid a global sell off that sent the Dow Jones industrials down more than 500 points to fall below 10,000 for the first time in four years.

In morning trading, GM shares fell 58 cents, or 6.5 percent, to $8.42. They earlier dropped as low as $8.24.

That low marked the automaker's lowest share price since April 22, 1954, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes.

Source: http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...006&id=9232599

Jim Cramer: Time to get out of the stock market
Financial guru warns that investments could lose 20 percent of their value
By Michael Inbar
TODAYShow.com contributor
Mon., Oct. 6, 2008

Bullish investors should turn into shrinking violets as the stock market continues its shocking downward spiral, CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer told Ann Curry on TODAY Monday.

In what Curry called a “dramatic statement,” Cramer emphatically urged any investor who has money they may need in the next five years tied to stocks to pull their dough out.

“I thought about this all weekend,” Cramer told Curry. “I do not want to say these things on TV.

“Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now.”

While the animated Cramer is known for telling investors the best prospects for earning money on the stock market, he’s now saying retreat is the best position in the face of some of the worst financial news in decades. The bank lending default crisis that put financial firms around the country on the brink of collapse could bring “as much as a 20 percent decrease in the stock market,” Cramer predicted.

He noted that the world’s markets are nosing downward in the face of the U.S. fiscal trauma.

“One thing is certain — they are, in Europe, behind us,” Cramer told Curry. “We’ve experienced more pain than they have, we are surprised at their pain, we didn’t know how bad off they were.”

He called the U.S. government’s $700 billion bailout plan, which includes raising the insured rate on bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000, as a “good one,” assuring bank depositors: “Your money is safe.”

But he warned that the same may not be true for stock market investors.

“I don’t care where stocks have been, I care where they’re going, and I don’t want people to get hurt in the market,” Cramer told Curry. “I’m worried about unemployment, I’m worried about purchases that you may need. I can’t have you at risk in the stock market.”

VIDEO: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/261848...20306#27045406

Full Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27045699/

[Buickman]

Jim Cramer, Hank Paulsen, Robert Rubin, John Corzine, John Bryan...hmmmmm....????

[johnny smallblock]

I'm investing heavily in panic and misery. I think I'm really going to clean up over the next year.

[Whitesky]

I wonder what he will say on his show.....

[Carver]

Normally, someone saying "get out of stocks" could be taken as a sign of capitulation, and that stocks are about to rebound. But this is a very different environment that we're in. The earnings reports will probably be bad.

[RamJet502]

I pulled all of my money out of the market in March, it was the smartest thing I ever did. A few more days like today and I might be bargain shopping the market again.

[Ming]

Originally Posted by RamJet502

I pulled all of my money out of the market in March, it was the smartest thing I ever did. A few more days like today and I might be bargain shopping the market again.

Wish I could say the same! Smart move.

[Stéphane Dumas]

with the current values of GM stock, it strange then no one decided to buy a bunch of them to get a huge influence on GM or even a takeover (unless they act behind the curtain or under the table). Since Ghosn is rumored to flirt more and more with Chrysler
Rumors: Chrysler/Renault-Nissan talk picks up in Paris who else might check an eye on GM?

[Ming]

Just don't let it be Toyota. Anyone but Toyota... That's been the fear in the back of my head for some time now. That GM restructures itself in a very competitive way with great product, but hits that "sweet spot" where the stock price is still low enough for some major competitor or investor to swoop in.

I won't be able to justify my enthusiasm for GM if all GM products eventually become little more than Pontiac Vibes...!

OK, I'm going to stop thinking about that now.

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by Stéphane Dumas

with the current values of GM stock, it strange then no one decided to buy a bunch of them to get a huge influence on GM or even a takeover (unless they act behind the curtain or under the table). Since Ghosn is rumored to flirt more and more with Chrysler
Rumors: Chrysler/Renault-Nissan talk picks up in Paris who else might check an eye on GM?

GM was being shopped around earlier this year, but no one wanted them. Too many problems, and it would be cheaper just to scoop up the assets post-bankruptcy.

[vxl]

Originally Posted by wescoent

... and it would be cheaper just to scoop up the assets post-bankruptcy.

They don't even need to do that - just move their product into the vacuum created by GM's (and the US auto industry in general) demise.

Once that happens there will be no need to pacify the politicians with transplant factories - it'll be full steam ahead with exports to keep the jobs at home.

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by Ming

Just don't let it be Toyota. Anyone but Toyota... That's been the fear in the back of my head for some time now. That GM restructures itself in a very competitive way with great product, but hits that "sweet spot" where the stock price is still low enough for some major competitor or investor to swoop in.

I won't be able to justify my enthusiasm for GM if all GM products eventually become little more than Pontiac Vibes...!

OK, I'm going to stop thinking about that now.

Would never happen. US anti-trust laws would almost certainly prevent the #1 and #2 global automakers from merging. Not to mention that the World Trade Organization and European Union would also have to sign off on the deal (I somehow can't see Daimler, Fiat, Renault-Nissan, et al being in favor).

[prototype66]

Originally Posted by Buickman

Jim Cramer, Hank Paulsen, Robert Rubin, John Corzine, John Bryan...hmmmmm....????

Now is your chance dude....time for a takeover!
put your plan in motion. You have all the answers right?

[jbernie]

Unless the company is borderline going out of business with no hope for a rescue, most people have lost so much money in 401(k)s etc that bailing out now will hurt just as much as staying in and waiting for a rebound in a few years.

Worst situation is for those who are imminently approaching retirement and where waiting for the rebound isn't possible... or just as bad, people who have retired and are not in a position to go back to work and still had stocks.

[JeffInDFW]

This is exactly why we can not let social security be replaced by greedy wall street pigs using our retirement money to play games to make THEM rich.