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Market Summary USAAMERICASEUROPEASIACURRENCIES Major Market Indexes Industry Indexes International Indexes Sector Performance Rates DJIA 13,300.02    -360.92    -2.64% Nasdaq 2,748.76    -76.42    -2.70% S&P 500 1,475.62    -44.65    -2.94% Dow Util 516.63    -12.56    -2.37% NYSE 9,830.15    -272.26    -2.70% AMEX 2,499.99    -38.92    -1.53% Russell 2000 775.96    -25.81    -3.22% Semcond 444.16    -11.19    -2.46% Gold future 833.50    +10.10    +1.23% 30-Year Bond 4.67%    +0.02    +0.34% 10-Year Bond 4.33%    -0.02    -0.53%  Market Diaries Issues: NYSE Nasdaq Advancing  301  587 Declining  2,995  2,444 Unchanged  51  101 Total:  3,347  3,132 Issues at: 52-Week High  25  19 52-Week Low  270  298 Volume: Advancing  97,048,000  352,515,000 Declining  1,554,496,000  2,168,234,000 Unchanged  6,432,000  -2,495,604,000 Total:  1,657,976,000  25,145,000 11/7/2007 6:50:00 PM Market Screener NYSENASDAQAMEXOTC Most Active by Volume on 11/7/2007 Symbol Last Change Volume C 33.41    -1.670 120.71M   IWM 77.65    -2.480 112.48M   WM 20.04    -4.190 68.62M   EMC 22.24    -1.160 67.84M   F 8.24    -0.390 50.26M   WFC 30.76    -1.880 49.88M   GE 39.08    -1.100 46.72M   BAC 43.31    -2.250 43.62M   PFE 23.32    -0.320 39.00M   GM 33.95    -2.210 35.13M    Add symbols to My Portfolio More...

Stocks drop at open after steep GM loss

GM's $39B loss a record

No. 1 U.S. automaker posts much bigger operating loss than forecast as huge charge weighs on company.

General Motors reported a record net loss Wednesday due to a $39 billion charge, along with a large operating loss that was far worse than Wall Street expectations.

The nation's No. 1 automaker, which was hit with a soft auto market and a two-day strike by the United Auto Workers union during the quarter, lost $1.6 billion, or $2.80 a share, excluding special items.

That compares to the forecast of a 25- cent-a-share loss from analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson First Call and earnings per share of $497 million, or 88 cents on that basis in the year-earlier period.

In addition, the company took a huge charge in the quarter, which was related to the writedown of tax credits for losses over the last three years. That caused it to post a net loss of $39 billion, or $68.85 a share, for the third quarter of 2007, compared with the net loss of $147 million, or 26 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

To put the size of the charge in context, the total value of all GM shares outstanding was only $20.4 billion at the close of trading Tuesday.

The charge and losses are not the largest in corporate history. Time Warner (Charts, Fortune 500), then known by the name AOL Time Warner, lost $98.7 billion in 2002, driven largely by charges related to the writedown in value of the company after a 2001 merger. CNNMoney.com is a unit of Time Warner.

Telecom equipment maker JDS Uniphase (Charts) lost $56.1 billion, driven mostly by special charges. But the GM loss in the third quarter puts it in position for one of the largest losses in U.S. corporate history.

The previous company record loss at GM came in 1992, when a $20.8 billion charge resulted in a $23.5 billion loss for the year. Ironically, that earlier charge was related to the company's accounting for the future cost of retiree health care at that time.

Those health care costs, which have since grown to more than $50 billion, are in the process of being shifted to a union-controlled trust fund which was agreed to in a break-through labor agreement reached in the last week of this most recent quarter.

Wall St. faces oil, GM woes

U.S. stocks expected to open lower Wednesday as crude gets closer to $100 mark, automaker takes huge charge.

Oil's push toward the $100-a-barrel mark and a huge quarterly loss by General Motors set a negative tone going into the start of Wednesday's U.S. stock trading.

At 7:45 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were both sharply lower, signaling a bad start to the U.S. trading day.

Oil soared to $98.22 a barrel, up $1.52, although that was off of the high of $98.62 that was hit in overnight trading, as the market awaits the weekly inventory report from the U.S. government. The report is forecast to show a decline in fuel supplies for the third straight week.

Also a storm in the North Sea caused the evacuation of some oil platforms and raised supply concerns.

The price of dollar-denominated oil was also being driven higher by a further decline in the dollar, which once again hit a record low versus the euro. The dollar was also lower versus the yen.

GM (Charts, Fortune 500) shares were down more than 6 percent in European trading after the nation's leading automaker on Wednesday reported a large operating loss that was far worse than Wall Street expectations.

The nation's No. 1 automaker, which was hit with a soft auto market and a two-day strike by the United Auto Workers union during the quarter, lost $1.6 billion, or $2.80 a share, excluding special items. That compares to the forecast of a 25 cent a share loss from analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson First Call

Late Tuesday, GM announced that it would take a $39 billion noncash charge to meet federal accounting rules.

While the charge, related to the writedown of tax credits for losses over the last three years, will not hit GM's cash reserves, it raised questions for investors about whether the automaker will make enough money in the coming years to take advantage of those previously-booked credits.

GM rival Toyota Motor (Charts), which had been hit by sluggish sales in its two most important markets, Japan and the United States, nevertheless reported profit rose 11 percent and it raised its earnings forecast for the full year.

Time Warner (Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest media company, reported improved revenue that beat forecasts as it reaffirmed its 2007 outlook. It also announced that its America Online unit was making an acquisition. Time Warner is the owner of CNNMoney.com.

Among the other stocks in the news Wednesday Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) signed a deal with China's No. 2 personal computer maker to pre-install Microsoft's Windows operating system in PCs in an effort combat widespread Chinese software piracy. The software maker also fired its chief information officer for violating company policies although it declined to provide details.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Delta Air Lines (Charts, Fortune 500) is set to announced a 10-year, $1 billion contract with a major supplier of jet-engine parts that will help the airline expand the types of engines it can maintain itself.