Before the Bell: Stocks up as violence rages in Middle East, GMAC looks for financing

Posted Dec 29th 2008 8:03AM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Dow Chemical (DOW), Economic Data, Housing

U.S. stock market futures gained at the start of the last trading week of the year. The rally may be short-lived given that many traders have taken the week between Christmas and New Year's off. Stock markets in Europe and Asia advanced as well.

Oil prices are rising amidst growing worries about the clash between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In early trading today, oil topped $40 as the death toll in the clash reached 300. Whether the conflict will boost prices at the pump remains to be seen. Members of OPEC are expected to cut production further to boost prices, which are down more than 70 percent since July. Prices may fall further as the economic slowdown further erodes demand.

Meanwhile, faith in the global economy was further undermined by the decision Sunday of Kuwait's government to cancel a $17.4 billion joint venture with Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW). Shares of the Michigan-based company and Rohm & Haas Co. (NYSE: ROH), which Dow agreed to buy earlier this year for $15.4 billion, fell in pre-market action.

GMAC has given no word about whether bondholders approved a debt exchange program that would give the financing arm of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) with access to the $700 billion financial bailout program for financial institutions.

"GMAC has been struggling to persuade bondholders to convert 75 percent of their debt into equity in GMAC, a move that would allow GMAC to reach $30 billion in capital," according to the New York Times. "But several bondholders had been balking at the terms of the deal, which had caused GMAC to extend the deadline for the exchange to last Friday and to sweeten the terms for bondholders."

Investors will still await details of the dreadful holiday shopping season along with data from the Labor Department on jobless claims and The Institute for Supply Management's December survey of purchasing managers.

The downward spiral of the market continues to amaze. The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 36.2 percent this year, the worst performance since 1931 when the Great Depression was in full swing, according to the Associated Press. The S&P 500, down 40.9 percent, has had its biggest decline since its creation in 1957.

Tags: before the bell, BeforeTheBell, DJIA, DOW, ECONOMY, GM, GMAC, hamas, israel, Kuwait, NASDAQ, NYSE, ROH

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-03-2009 @ 3:27AM

gustongroves said...

Information provided is of great use. The world is in recession. We have seen every stock market has remarked many black days in the history of their respective stock market. Hope the things would change in the year 2009