General Motors shares soar almost 13% on Thursday as SoftBank plans to invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise

Shares of General Motors Company (GM) recorded their best trading session in almost nine years on Thursday following a report that SoftBank Group Corp intends to invest $2.25 billion in the auto makers autonomous vehicle unit, Cruise. The deal may affirm GMs leading position in self-driving vehicle technology.

General Motors shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since late 2009. The stock went up 12.87% ($4.87) to $42.70, after touching an intraday high at $42.77, or a price level not seen since February 7th ($43.56).

Shares of General Motors Company have risen 4.17% so far in 2018 compared with a 1.18% gain for the underlying index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, General Motors’ stock surged 17.65%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

GM said it would invest as much as $1.1 billion in GM Cruise, once the deal is finalized. The unit was acquired by the US auto maker two years ago for approximately $1 billion.

By collaborating with SoftBank’s 100-billion-dollar Vision Fund, GM would be able to facilitate funding wide-scale deployment of its self-driving vehicles, the company said on Thursday.

According to Reuters, the partnership values GM Cruise at $11.5 billion.

SoftBanks investment is to be held in preferred stock, which it will be able to convert to GM common stock after a period of seven years.

After the transaction is finalized, SoftBanks Vision Fund will have a 19.6% stake in GM Cruise as well as one of six seats on the entitys board.

General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra has already said the auto maker still remains “on track” to start the deployment of its Cruise autonomous vehicles in commercial ride-sharing fleets next year.

According to CNN Money, the 19 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding General Motors Companys stock price, have a median target of $51.00, with a high estimate of $70.00 and a low estimate of $31.00. The median estimate is a 19.44% surge compared to the closing price of $42.70 on May 31st.

The same media also reported that 12 out of 22 surveyed investment analysts had rated General Motors Company’s stock as “Buy”, while 9 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the General Motors stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $42.84
R2 – $42.97
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $43.11
R4 (Long Breakout) – $43.51
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $43.99
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $44.23

S1 – $42.56
S2 – $42.43
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $42.29
S4 (Short Breakout) – $41.89
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $41.41
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $41.17

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for General Motors Company (GM) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $38.18
R1 – $38.89
R2 – $39.49
R3 – $40.20
R4 – $40.92

S1 – $37.58
S2 – $36.87
S3 – $36.27
S4 – $35.68