Shares of General Motors (GM) fell Monday after the government forced CEO Rick Wagoner to resign to make way for a significant restructuring of the nearly bankrupt auto maker.

Wagoner, who became CEO in 2000, agreed to relinquish his position in exchange for more short-term government loans for GM, which has lost $82 billion since 2004. The auto maker had for decades faced problems with product quality, retiree health-care costs and union agreements for labor. More recently, in addition to a collapse of its financing unit, sales have plunged as demand for its gas-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles has disappeared.

Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson will take over the top job.

On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with administration officials. In the course of that meeting they requested that I step aside as CEO of GM, and so I have, Wagoner said in a message posted on the company s web site.

Bret Smith, director of automotive analysis at the Center for Automotive Research, an Ann Arbor, Mich., nonprofit think tank, calls Wagoner s removal utterly symbolic, and says it wouldn t affect investors fortunes or the ultimate fate of the company.

Stock prices effectively no longer matter for GM and Ford (F), the two remaining publicly listed U.S. auto makers. Shares trade almost like penny stocks. I ve got to figure day traders love it right now, Smith says.

The government task for that pushed Wagoner out also gave Chrysler, now privately held by the investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, 30 days to complete an alliance with Italy's Fiat SpA or lose short-term financial help that is keeping it afloat.

It s brutally honest, Smith says of the report.

Bottom Line: Hold
There is no reason for long-term investors to own this stock. However, for those that do another headline may trigger a price spike and offer up a more-profitable exit point.

Intel Shares Lose Steam

Intel (INTC) shares continued to slide with the wider market on Monday, despite the release of a long-anticipated and well-received new processing chip for computer servers. The Monday launch of the Nehalem chip sharpens the company s ability to grab market share from rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) . (Intel has about 90% of the server processor market.)

Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang wrote Monday the product launch is a warning shot ahead of a planned fourth-quarter unveiling of AMD s new chip. We also expect higher average sale prices to modestly benefit Intel s gross margins over time, Wang wrote.

Intel plans to report its March quarter performance on April 14, and indications for next quarter are positive. However, ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh wrote Monday that the second half of 2009 still offers limited visibility. He said its 25% rise in the last four weeks, outpacing the Nasdaq s 17% gain during that time, means rising expectations are getting built into the stock price.

Today s decline is a consequence of market reactions to big government moves, such as dispatching General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, and indicate a wider sense of worry about the market. Intel still retains clear market leadership and won t be hurt by the delayed launch of its new chip as much as it will by lower overall demand, Wang wrote.

Bottom Line: Buy
This is a dip that makes a good stock cheaper.