GM shares rise as market bets on autos performance
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp GM.N shares rose as much as 6 percent on Monday as an analyst said the No. 1 U.S. automaker might report better than expected results from its automotive operations this week.
GM reports fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, a week after its former finance arm GMAC reported a wider than expected $724 million fourth-quarter loss.
"While GMAC was weaker than expected, the auto business may surprise on the upside in the quarter driven by NA production and Latin America," JP Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel said in a note to clients.
Options on the automaker's shares were also active ahead of the earnings release.
"I think the stock has been so beaten up that people are hoping for some good news when they release their earnings," said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.
Lefkowitz said people may be looking to see whether the lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve will have a positive impact on the auto companies.
GM shares were up $1.57, or 6.09 percent, at $27.37 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by David Bailey in Detroit and Doris Frankel in Chicago, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
