2012 a good year for GM, Ford

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DETROIT, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- The two top U.S. auto companies ended 2012 on a high note with double-digit increases in their stock price during the year.

On Monday, GM was selling for $28.83 a share, The Detroit News reported. It was up 42 percent over the $20.27 price at the end of 2011.

Ford's gain was less impressive but still above the average for U.S. stocks. At $12.95 a share Monday, it was up more than 20 percent from $10.76 a year earlier.

Stocks listed on the Dow Jones industrial average were up 7 percent on average, while the Standard & Poor 500 was up 13 percent.

Strong U.S. sales boosted the two companies' earnings and the increases in their stock prices. But in August, the continued European crisis, which drove sales there down, helped cut their stock prices to below where they finished in 2011.

Both companies rebounded after they announced plans to cut European capacity.

David Kudla, chief executive officer of Mainstay Capital Management LLC in Grand Blanc, Mich., predicted another good year in 2013.

"The sales in North America are just so strong, and we see that expanding even further next year," he told the News. "We're still in the early innings of the auto recovery. We're looking at another great year for both stocks."