|
Another nice surprise in what has been a cheerful beginning to quarterly earnings season arrived on Tuesday from Detroit. It seems that the end of Washington’s demands for electric vehicles plus a lighter-than-expected Washington tariff demand are the right fuel mixture for an accelerating stock price. Christopher Otts reports for the Journal: General Motors posted surprisingly strong results Tuesday in the face of tariffs, a slowing
electric-vehicle market and supply crunches, fueling the stock’s best day in five years. GM said it is making faster-than-expected progress reducing a multibillion-dollar tariff bill, while moving quickly to downsize its unprofitable electric-vehicle business. Last week, the company disclosed a $1.6 billion write-off related to underused EV factories. On Tuesday, Chief Executive Mary Barra said it would rip off another EV bandage with a special charge in the fourth quarter stemming in part from its decision to stop making electric vans for commercial customers. Mr. Otts adds: At the heart of Wall Street’s optimism is the notion that GM can keep a lid on tariffs and EV losses, while reaping the benefits of selling more moneymaking gasoline-powered trucks and sport-utility vehicles now that the Trump administration has eased clean-vehicle regulations. The automaker can’t make enough gas-burning full-size SUVs to keep up with demand, Barra said, and is preparing to start churning out more at a Michigan factory that it once planned to convert to EV production.
|
