Stocks Advance, Led by Techs; GM Soars

cnbc ^ | 11/18/10 | Abby Schultz and JeeYeon Park

[Nachum]

Stocks continued to advance Thursday, helped by the successful launch of General Motors stock, in addition to a batch of positive economic reports and news that Ireland may agree to a bailout package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 180 points, following a lackluster trading session on Wednesday that ended with the blue-chip index slightly lower.

Most Dow components were higher, led by Alcoa [AA 13.48 0.54 (+4.17%) ], Caterpillar [CAT 83.16 1.99 (+2.45%) ] and DuPont [DD 46.658 0.998 (+2.19%) ], while Intel [INTC 21.0201 -0.0599 (-0.28%) ] fell.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also higher. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, plunged more than 11 percent to near 19.

The key S&P sectors all gained, led by materials, energy and technology.

[Nachum]

Wanna buy a Volt?

[demsux]

GM SOARS? It’s at 34.80...what did it start at?

[the invisib1e hand]

Just shows what a company can do when the government takes over and ignores the laws protecting bondholders, and then gets all its surrogates to buy the stock offering.

Just when I thought business couldn't be prostituted once more...

[brownsfan]

I don’t understand buying GM. Apparently there are a lot of idiots with money driving the price up?

If Ford is around $16 a share, GM can’t possibly be worth more than that.

[bareford101]

for me, buying a government motor’s product is like beliving that any words that come out of the obamantion is not a lie... not going to happen.

[OrioleFan]

It was funny on Fox this morning when Steve was interviewing the White House flack (WHF), asking why aren’t people with Schwab accounts able to participate in the GM IPO like the institutional investors.

The WHF kept saying they could, and Steve said, “so I can go out and buy some shares?”, and the WHF said, “well, no.”

Then Steve asked, “What about the current GM stockholders - what do they get?” The WHF responded, “nothing.”

[freekitty]

I am confused. I thought the people already owned GM?

[ZX12R]

GM SOARS? It’s at 34.80...what did it start at?

The first trade I saw was at $35.01

[Wuli]

How many shares did Bernanke buy for the Fed’s “reserves”, and to boost the “national recovery and stimulus agenda”?

When will we get the Fed audited?

[AngelesCrestHighway]

I wouldn’t let my dog buy a Volt.....

[LibLieSlayer]

$35.00... I told you they lie.

LLS

[re_nortex]

for me, buying a government motor’s product is like beliving that any words that come out of the obamantion is not a lie... not going to happen.

Here in Texas, most people driving Government Motors cars and trucks are Mexicans. Ford trucks are driven by real Texans.

I have a 10 year-old Ford car and it's never given me any problems in spite of being assembled by UAW thugs. Maybe they weren't drunk the day mine was manufactured.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

The IPO was priced at $33.00. The first trade after the open was up 7.5%, I think, and now it’s settled back down to around being up 4.3%.

That shows what can be done when the big heavy arm of government gets into the mix: you can jaw-bone labor into making a few concessions; you can make debtors settle for X cents on the dollar; you can write-off prior equity holders; and you can screw tax-payers in the process. But at least a bunch of UAW workers’ jobs were saved and Michigan’s unemployment was spared becoming the worst in the nation’s history; and the resulting economy in Michigan isn’t the basket case it would have otherwise been.

I remember driving through Baltimore 2 years ago, I think, and hearing a GM sale advertised on the radio: buy a GM car and get a piece of the company! They were offering 20 shares of GM as an incentive to buy a GM car. I’m sure when the promotion was first considered, this would have been worth $500 or so (20 shares X $25/share) but by Thanksgiving, GM was selling for around $2/share and the promotion was worth less than $50. Pitiful.