But GM was yesterday's big worry for investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed GM's records of dealings with Delphi, a parts-making company that once was part of GM. What worries investors is not only the subpoena but also the possibility that GM's financial performance may turn out to have been worse than the company has reported.
There were reports out of Detroit that GM's board is pressuring top executives to quickly come up with a turn-around plan for the struggling automaker -- a sign of the depth of the company's difficulties.
GM executives and union leaders met in Detroit yesterday to discuss controlling health care costs, which account for $1,500 of the cost of each car and are regarded as one of GM's burdens. GM's union contracts are considered unusually generous because they require workers and retirees to pay much less out of their own pockets than most Americans.
GM's cross-town rival Ford is suffering, too. Both are heavily dependent on profits from the sales of large pickups and sport-utility vehicles, which have lost some of their appeal because of high gas prices. Both also have introduced new models that have failed to sell as well as hoped -- GM's Pontiac G6 and Ford's new Five Hundred sedan. And both are considered so financially frail that credit ratings agencies have downgraded them to just above junk-bond status. Another demotion -- to a junk-bond rating -- is widely expected. That would further erode the status of what once were premier blue-chip stocks.
Other Indicators
• The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 70.25, to 7063.74; the American Stock Exchange index fell 14.00, to 1444.50; and the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 10.60, to 591.94.
• Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by 7 to 2 on the NYSE, where trading volume rose to 1.9 billion shares, from 1.63 billion on Wednesday. On the Nasdaq Stock Market, decliners outnumbered advancers 3 to 1, and volume totaled 1.91 billion, up from 1.72 billion.
• The price of the Treasury's 10-year note rose $2.81 per $1,000 invested, and its yield fell to 4.33 percent, from 4.36 percent on Wednesday.
• The dollar rose against the Japanese yen and the euro. In late New York trading, a dollar bought 108.12 yen, up from 107.37 late Wednesday, and a euro bought $1.2827, down from $1.2912.
• Light, sweet crude oil for May delivery settled at $51.13, up $0.91, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
• Gold for current delivery fell to $424.00 a troy ounce, from $429.30 on Wednesday, on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Commodity Exchange.
