GM, Ford Shares Rally As Investors Shrug Off Weak June Sales, Focus On Outlook

Shares of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motors Corp. rose sharply Monday, as investors shrugged off weak U.S. June sales and focused on optimism about the outlook. GM and Ford reported 5% declines in sales for the month, but Honda Motor Co. , Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co. all notched gains. Executives were generally upbeat about the second half. "Now, while there's obviously significant fluctuation month to month, we expect our overall fleet business to end 2017 about the same as 2016 in terms of volume, share and percent of our total for all three components: rental, commercial and government," Ford executives said on a media call. Analysts were expecting 2017 sales to lag 2016, a record year. Ford shares jumped 3.5% and GM shares were up 3.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to a fresh record, while the S&P 500 was up 0.4%.