GM's Stock is Now Falling as Oil Prices Go Up: Truck and SUV Sales Will be Affected by Rising Oil Costs

Remember the summer of 2008? General Motors most profitable vehicles (truck and SUVs) sat on dealership lots. Why? Because nobody wanted to fill them up with gasoline at $4 plus a gallon. This of course put General Motors in the position where it needed a bailout the following year, a bailout it still hasn't paid back and probably will never pay back.

Well, the summer of 2011 isn't going to be kind for GM if 2008 is an indication. Hints at that are beginning to show as oil has taken a a sharp rise in recent weeks.

(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. fell to the lowest since its initial public offering in November as rising oil prices dimmed the outlook for truck sales after the largest U.S. automaker’s most profitable year since 1999.

GM slid $1.57, or 4.5 percent, to $33.02 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares earlier fell as low as $32.05, less than the $33 initial offering price in November.

Now remember, this stock price is critical to the American taxpayer. It is the hope the stock will rise that gives taxpayers any hope of recovering any of the rest of the bailout money.