Stock

I was checking GM's stock price the other day. I check it every so often but recently, I've been doing it more because its been on a nice rise (from $19 to $26.50 a share) over the past few months. The market has decided to appreciate it again after GM's major plans to turn the company around. You can check out the stock here.

As I was saying, I was checking out the stock the other day and maxed out the chart (it goes back beyond 1965) and something struck my eye. It was the giant dip in 1975. This got me thinking -- wasn't the gas shortage around that time? So, I decided to dig a little deeper and found some statistics on the average gas prices for the past 35 years (the data I found was for California -- which can be found here)



As anyone can see, GM's stock price greatly decreased whenever gas prices shot up. The stock took a dive in 1975, 1982, 1992, and once again in 2006 as gas prices, adjusted for inflation, are almost at their highest. The average price of gas in 2005 was $2.47 while it was $2.50 in 1982.

I just thought it was some interesting data that I would pass on. Ford and Toyota showed similar patterns as well, although I couldn't find any data for Toyota prior to 1993.

Perhaps what's good for General Motors is good for America as the saying goes ... and vice versa.

Tags: Gas Prices, GM, Auto Industry, & Stock Market