The question here is; to what will gas prices affect the auto industry's stock? Judging the from latest news, it is. With the end of gas price hikes not in sight, the stocks of auto makers may continue to plummet.
Why should the stocks rise?

The market has been level for quite awhile (evidence the rebates).

GM's product line is old. By this I mean the new products such a the GTO, etc have been out for a few months so any boom (or bust) has been taken into account. Nothing new to date.

GM hasn't announced any layoffs within the last few days so nobody is losing his/ her job for the sake of company profits.

So, it is the external factors such as gas prices, taxes, job security that are currently changing.

But don't take my word, the stock may go up for who knows what reason. The sad thing is that the average person is not Martha Stewart who has the voice of the CEO talking to her.

 

I think GM stock will eventually rise above $70. But that may not happen until they start to release all there newer cars 2007+. Morningstar has said several times that GM stock has good potential. GM is clearly restructuring and becoming a better company. The key factor will be whether GM can improve at a faster rate than their competition. I am still kicking myself because the stock was at $29 earlier last year.