More negative news has come out of Detroit. General Motors (GM) states that the tasks that need to be completed to avoid bankruptcy are large and daunting. With this in mind, bankruptcy is becoming more probable.
From the technology sector, Microsoft (MSFT) has announced that, for the first time in its history, it will take advantage of its stellar credit ratings and sell five-, 10-, and 30-year debt. The largest software maker plans to sell this debt to raise capital for a massive capital restructuring program which includes a stock repurchase program, states Gabrielle Coppola and Dina Bass of Bloomberg. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) was up nearly 0.5% in intraday trading and is up 15.9% for the year; MSFT is 10.8%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.2%, the S&P 500 was down nearly 1.5% and the Nasdaq dipped about 0.05% in morning trading.
Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.