Oct. 9--General Motors Corp.'s falling stock price is continuing to weigh down the Dow Jones industrial average and auto stocks in general on Thursday.

The world's largest automaker's shares were trading down $1.14, or 16.5%, at $5.77 in early afternoon. It was the biggest decliner among all auto stocks and Dow components.

Ford Motor Co. shares were also sharply down, losing 25 cents, or 9.4%, at $2.41 in early afternoon.

Most auto stocks were trading down on Thursday. One of the biggest losers was American Axle Manufacturing & Holdings Inc. Shares of the Detroit supplier were down 40 cents, or 10.5%, at $3.41 in early afternoon.

The Dow industrials were down 109.03, or 1.2%, at 9,149.07. Only 7 of the 30 components were in positive territory for the day.

-----

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com

Copyright (c) 2008, Detroit Free Press

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:GM, NYSE:F, NYSE:AXL,