As Goes GE, So Goes The Economy?

March 4: GE's shares tumbled below $6 (the stock is down 60% in 2009), to a level unseen since 1991, amid continued investor fears that the conglomerate could lose its ‘AAA’ credit rating and make another equity issue. The two scenarios have haunted GE’s shares in recent weeks, even as the company took steps to shore up its beleaguered finance arm, GE Capital, by diverting $9.5 bn in cash from the corporate parent in Q1 2009 and slashing the company’s dividend