GE No Rescue for Financial Junk Stocks (GE, FNM, FRE, AIG)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) may be the one single bright spot taking the market higher this Friday when you consider the 10.2% unemployment rate and when you look over the latest round of earnings. Both Oppenheimer and Bernstein raised their official GE ratings to “Outperform” in research calls this morning. It depends upon which way the wind blows, but there are many times that GE trades more like some of the troubled financial stocks rather than as the top industrial stock in America.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are all headed in opposite direction of GE. We noted that Fannie had broken the buck in pre-market trading and is back above the $1.00 level now. It is also dragging down Freddie Mac. AIG is adding to larger losses seen at the open.

GE shares are trading up 5.4% at $15.21 and we have already seen over 30 million shares trade hands in the first 20 minutes and pre-market period.

JON C. OGG