On 13 November there was a concerted effort to give shares in this giant US conglomerate a boost.

The company insisted that it intended to keep the 2009 dividend the same as this year, which if it happens, puts the shares on a generous 7.4 per cent dividend yield. At the same time, the chief executive and vice chairman each bought 50,000 shares in the market at a cost of around $825,000.

It should be reassuring but if they really thought the shares were screamingly cheap they would surely want to buy even more.

The news flow from the company has not been great. The company has already lowered its target for 2008 profit twice this year, has been raising additional equity capital including selling preferred shares to Warren Buffett and has been making use of government support to strengthen the position of its lending arm. Its balance sheet could easily look alarming with a ratio of debt to equity of nearly 500 per cent.

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