GM and Ford default swaps fall on Bush bailout plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cost to insure the debt of General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co and their finance units fell after President George W. Bush announced a $17.4 billion government loan program on Friday to bail out ailing U.S. carmakers.

Credit default swaps insuring GM's debt fell to an upfront cost of 76 percent the sum insured for five years, in addition to annual payments of 5 percent, from 81 percent upfront on Thursday, according to CMA DataVision.

That means it costs $7.6 million paid upfront to insure $10 million in debt, in addition to payments of $500,000 per year.

Ford's credit default swaps also fell to 68 percent upfront, from 70 percent on Thursday, CMA data shows.

GMAC LLC's credit default swaps dropped to 46 percent upfront from 49 percent on Thursday, and Ford Motor Credit Co fell to 35 percent upfront from 37 percent, CMA said.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)