GM sales plunge 49%; Motorola posts $3.6B Q4 loss
CBS News
Transcript
American automakers continue their downward spiral Ford reported a 40 percent drop in January sales Toyota is down 32 percent General Motors tumbled by a staggering 49 to cut costs GM is offering buyouts to all its hourly employees mainly the 22 thousand workers eligible for retirement the company admits the offer will be less generous than previous buyouts Motorola is one of the losers today shares dropped when the company announced a giant fourth quarter loss 3.6 billion dollars Motorola also suspended its dividend payments to shareholders and announced its Chief Financial Officer is out Wall Street did get some help from the housing market the National Association of Realtors says pending home sales increased by more than 6 percent in December those are homes that have accepted offers but haven't yet closed the deal the news helped boost the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 141 points the NASDAQ Composite gained nearly 22. President Barack Obama introduced his new pick for Commerce Secretary Senator Judd Gregg it confirmed Greg would be the third Republican in the cabinet and would play a key role in the economic recovery plan that's your money watch click on cbsnews.com for more business headlines in New York I'm Alexis christopherus