GM Generali

By Dow Jones

Shares of General Motors Corp. (GM) rose more than 8% in pre-market trading Thursday after reports that automakers may be getting additional aid from the government.

U.S. President Barack Obama's month-old auto-industry task force is prepared to make its first recommendations with days, and is ready to advise providing more loans for troubled U.S. automakers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Task-force members interviewed for the report said the administration doesn't want to let General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC file for bankruptcy, and the group is expected to say it sees viable futures for both companies, so long as their management, unions and - in the case of GM - bondholders are all prepared to make sacrifices.

Chrysler and GM have requested $22 billion more in funds, including $9 billion for the second quarter, but the task force may not disperse new aid immediately, choosing instead to preserve that as leverage, the Journal reported.

The Journal's report also said the task force met with officials from Chrysler and Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA) and indicated it's still interested in seeing the two companies form an alliance, as the automakers have proposed.

In related news, GM is expected to announce Thursday that more than 6,000 members of the United Auto Workers have accepted buyouts, meeting the company's target, according to a report by Bloomberg that cited unnamed sources. The buyouts represent about 10% of GM's UAW workforce, the article reported.

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