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GM posts loss of $3.3B on weak US auto market, charges
Apr 30, 8:00 AM (ET)

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. (GM) (GM) struggled to a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and pickups.

The loss reported Wednesday for the January-March period amounted to $5.74 per share and also reflected one-time charges. Without the charges, it appeared GM's adjusted results beat Wall Street expectations.

Its shares rose almost 6 percent in premarket trading.

The nation's biggest automaker had earned $62 million, or 11 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2007.

GM's loss included a $1.45 billion charge to reflect a change in the value of GM's interest in GMAC Financial Services and $731 million to increase GM's liability in Delphi Corp.' (DPHIQ)s ongoing bankruptcy.

Excluding the one-time items, GM lost $350 million, or 62 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of $1.60 per share.

Its shares rose $1.20, or 5.7 percent, to $22.40 in premarket trading.

GM's total revenue for the quarter was $42.7 billion, down from $43.4 billion a year ago. GM said revenues were up 20 percent outside North America thanks to strong growth in China, Russia, Brazil and India. Revenue totals were hurt by the slowdown in North America and losses at GMAC.

Ray Young, GM's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said analysts may be underestimating GM's overseas growth. He also said GM is making progress in cutting costs in North America.

"The North American turnaround is occurring," he said.

GM lost $276 million in the first quarter due to its minority stake in GMAC. GM lost $812 million in North America, compared with a loss of $208 million in the year-ago quarter.

"We continue to leverage our global product portfolio to take advantage of tremendous growth in key emerging markets, while at the same time taking the appropriate actions to deal with the challenging economic conditions in the U.S.," GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said in a statement.

Source: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080430/D90C60780.html

BofA Plans $3 Billion Write-Down

Bank of America said it would take a $3 billion, debt-related write- down in the fourth quarter and warned that its losses could grow as the market wrestles with the fallout from the housing and mortgage-lending slump. The bank said it would also spend about &600 million to support a group of its money market funds because of "uncertainty around the value" of the funds' investments.

Speaking at an investor conference in New York, Chief Financial Officer Joe price said the bank was also setting aside more money for potential losses but considered the losses "manageable."

Source: Washington Post - Business November 2007

Budget Deficit Jumped in October

The government had a budget deficit of $55.6 billion in October, up sharply from last year even though government revenues hit an all-time high for the month. The Treasury Department reported that the deficit for the first month in the new budget year was up 12.6 percent from the imbalance in October 2006. The CBO is projecting that the deficit for the current 2008 budget year will decline to $155 billion.

Source: Washington Post - Business November 2007