General Motors Corp. (GM) is cutting 1,600 salaried jobs over the next few days in an attempt to cut costs for more government aid.

In February, the company planned to eliminate 3,400 positions, with the majority of cuts completed by May 1. These are part of the 47,000 reductions that the troubled automaker would make globally by year’s end.

GM, having taken $13.4 billion in government loans, faces a Jun 1 deadline to reduce costs and restructure in order to qualify for further aid. If the automaker fails to meet the deadline, it might be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

For the full year, the average earnings forecast now stands at a loss of $28.56, down from last month’s projection for a loss of $25.23, as 3 out of 12 analysts revised downward.

Shares of the company dropped more than 10% today on abnormally low volume. While the average daily volume is about 30 million, only 19 million shares have changed hands today.

GM is a Zacks #3 Rank (”Hold”) stock.

“GM” Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
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