Investors take GM stock for a joyride

General Motors:
The auto giant's shares gain 3.6% in their first day of trading after its $20-billion-plus IPO.

General Motors Chief Executive Dan Akerson at the New York Stock Exchange, where GM shares closed at $34.19.

"This is just about the sweetest deal that they could have hoped for," said Sandeep Dahiya, associate finance professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. "They got a good price, they sold a lot of their shares, and they're not facing criticism that they sold out cheaply."

If the deal had faltered, new questions would have been raised about the government's ability to extract the rest of its money. And if the stock had soared on its first day, the administration could have been criticized for pricing the deal too low and not getting enough for taxpayers.

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