GM stops internal common stock sales

General Motors Corp. has temporarily suspended the sale of its common stock to employees in two internal stock purchase plans because of "recent unexpectedly high demand" for the stock at its historically low price.

The trading blackout on sales of shares through GM's savings-stock purchase plan and personal savings plan began unexpectedly Tuesday because the plans have issued all of the shares of stock they had been allotted at the beginning of the year.

"The demand significantly exceeded the usual volume and exhausted the supply of registered stock more quickly than the administrators of the plans foresaw," GM said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Because of this, GM was not able to provide advance notice of the suspension of purchases of common stock under the plans or of the trading blackout."