By Dow Jones
Shares of General Motors Corp. (GM) rose more than 8% in
pre-market trading Thursday after reports that automakers may be
getting additional aid from the government.
U.S. President Barack Obama's month-old auto-industry task force
is prepared to make its first recommendations with days, and is
ready to advise providing more loans for troubled U.S. automakers,
The Wall Street Journal reported.
Task-force members interviewed for the report said the
administration doesn't want to let General Motors Corp. and
Chrysler LLC file for bankruptcy, and the group is expected to say
it sees viable futures for both companies, so long as their
management, unions and - in the case of GM - bondholders are all
prepared to make sacrifices.
Chrysler and GM have requested $22 billion more in funds,
including $9 billion for the second quarter, but the task force may
not disperse new aid immediately, choosing instead to preserve that
as leverage, the Journal reported.
The Journal's report also said the task force met with officials
from Chrysler and Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA) and indicated it's still
interested in seeing the two companies form an alliance, as the
automakers have proposed.
In related news, GM is expected to announce Thursday that more
than 6,000 members of the United Auto Workers have accepted
buyouts, meeting the company's target, according to a report by
Bloomberg that cited unnamed sources. The buyouts represent about
10% of GM's UAW workforce, the article reported.
-MarketWatch; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com