What happened
Shares of General Motors (GM 4.37%) were trading down on Monday morning, amid a broad-based market sell-off seemingly triggered by concerns about higher interest rates.
As of 11 a.m. ET, GM's shares were down about 4.9% from Friday's closing price.
So what
GM was one of many stocks hit by interest-rate-driven selling on Monday morning. It now seems likely that the Federal Reserve will begin raising interest rates in a bid to curb inflation, which has recently reached the highest levels seen in many years. The Fed is set to begin a two-day meeting on Tuesday, and many analysts expect the meeting to end with a signal that the central bank will begin raising rates soon, possibly in March.
The primary concern for GM is that rising interest rates will make car shoppers' monthly payments more expensive, though I suspect rates will have to rise significantly before that begins to dent the automaker's sales or margins.
There was no GM-specific bad news on Monday, though. The company said that it will make a major announcement on Tuesday. That's expected to be $6.5 billion worth of factory announcements related to electric vehicles at two sites in Michigan, including the Lake Orion factory that currently builds GM's electric Chevrolet Bolt.
GM is expected to announce $6.5 billion in new manufacturing investments on Tuesday. Part of that money is expected to fund a major expansion of GM's electric-vehicle factory in Lake Orion, Michigan. Image source: General Motors.
Now what
Auto investors can look forward to hearing more from CEO Mary Barra and her senior team when GM releases its fourth-quarter earnings results before the market opens next Tuesday, Feb. 1.
