GM Deathwatch
Mish (Mike Shedlock) has a great article on the direness of GM’s situation. Will they — and Ford — survive the depression heading the US’s way? The stock charts (in the link) don’t give reason for comfort.
The stat which most caught my attention was the rate of new car sales — within a span of a month, down from ~14 million to a mere ~12 million, the lowest rate in 15 years.
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On the topic of stock charts, GE isn’t looking too good either (hat tip again, to Mish). From what I remember, in the 90’s and early 00’s, the thinking was that GE’s financial arm (GE Capital) was the engine of its growth.
Like so many “crippling strengths” it appears GE Capital will lead GE into dire straits. If its condition at all resembles other US lenders’, GE will be in for a world of hurt. In the next couple years, I wouldn’t be surprised if GE fell from 2nd-biggest market cap company in the US (as of late June 2008) to tenth. Or worse. This link here seems to track the Dow components’ market caps…