G.M., the 1929 Model

How much has General Motors fallen? Its market value is now lower than it was in 1929, according to Global Financial Data.

As parallels to the Depression are being drawn to the financial crisis every day, you don't need to be told that 1929 turned out to be not such a great year (although it was the year that G.M. surpassed Ford Motor as the biggest American maker of passenger cars).

In 1929, G.M.'s market cap stood at $4 billion (or about $51 billion in today's dollars). Today, after a 23 percent drop to a 58-year-low in its stock price, it is around $3 billion.

Shares of G.M. slid after the company said that sales in Western Europe fell 11 percent in the first nine months of the year. The automaker's international operations have been holding up as the North American market deteriorates, and the disclosure knocked out one leg of support. Another leg was removed with the lifting of a temporary ban on short selling today. G.M., with its large stake in G.M.A.C., had been considered a financial stock for the purposes of the short-selling ban.

Late in the trading day, the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned it may cut the long-term credit rating of G.M.