US Market Recap: General Motors Executives Dump Shares, AMD Gains Market Share, Home Prices Fall The Most Ever In Q1

The Dow Jones Industrial rallied late, moving up 0.60% on the day, making it the only major index up for the day.  The NASDAQ was down -0.88% closing at 1715.92, with the S&P also down, falling -0.10% to close at 908.35.  In futures news, both gold and crude oil were up settling at $923.90 and $58.85, respectively.  The 10-year price rallied today as the Fed purchased bonds, the yield fell to 3.176%.

In automotive news, six General Motor (GM) executives took advantage of the trading window and sold 205,000 shares of GM stock.  The Securities and Exchange Commission reported that the executives sold off their entire holdings of the company for a reported $315,000.  These top executives took advantage of the selling window as their stocks value would have been severely handicapped if they had waited for the next window, either by having their value diluted from a debt-for-equity swap or be completely erased from the car company filing for bankruptcy.  GM’s fate is now looking more and more certain to be bankruptcy, with no positive news coming from discussions with bondholders.  In other US auto news, Ford (F) plans on selling 300 million shares of common stock.  CEO Alan Mulally says that this will further strengthen Ford’s balance sheet as the Dearborn, Michigan company plans on using the cash for its retiree employee trust.  This is one of the steps that Ford is taking to improve itself and gain market share, as it is the only major American car company not receiving government money.

According to independent market research company, IDC, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gained market share against chief rival Intel (INTC).  AMD picked up 4.6% in market share, bringing its total to 22.3%, while Intel lost 4.7% in market share in the first quarter bringing its total market share to 77.3%.  AMD benefited from an increase in desktop shipments which were up 13% while Intel’s shipments fell 16%.  Intel also has been hit hard recently as it reported that sales had declined 33% because of their Atom chip, which is mainly geared towards netbooks.  Despite AMD gaining market share and Intel losing market share, neither company is in the greatest shape as semiconductor companies are suffering significantly as high inventories are affecting their bottom lines and consumer demand for products with semis inside has been severely cut back.

DR Horton (DHI) and Toll Brothers (TOL) were both down over 2% today on news that home prices fell the most ever to be recorded in the first quarter of this year.  The National Association of Realtors reported that the median home price fell 14% in the first quarter to $169,000, with the steepest drops in price coming from California and Florida.  Sales increased in some states as banks sold foreclosed homes to speculators who believe that housing prices are bottoming and to first time home buyers who made up half of the homebuyers in the first quarter.  First time homebuyers are being given tax credits to buy homes, 10% of the price of the home up to $8,000.  The decline in average home price reflects a change in consumer spending, as many potential buyers are deterred from buying a home because they fear losing their jobs and then being unable to afford to pay the mortgage on their house.

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