Saving On Stock

UNDATED (AP) - Whether they're a bargain or not depends on what happens next, but it's now possible to pick up some big-name stocks
for rock bottom prices.

A share of General Motors now costs less than a standard spark plug.

For less than the cost of a Sunday New York Times, you could buy a share in the actual company.

And you could buy a share of General Electric Co. stock for $3 less than the price of a discount GE, two-slice bagel toaster at Wal-Mart.

The stock slide began when the burst housing bubble swept through the homebuilding industry, but it has now spread to almost every sector of the economy. As a result, shares of some of the biggest names in American business are being hammered by the worst confidence-chilling recession in generations.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down by nearly 50 percent from its 2007 high.