Obama stance on GM said unchanged

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's thinking on the crisis facing General Motors GM.N has not changed since Monday, a senior administration official told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Nothing has changed on this," the official said when asked about a Bloomberg report that the president has determined that a prepackaged bankruptcy is the best way for GM to restructure and become competitive. "This report is not accurate."

The White House wants the 60-day period for GM and a 30-day period for Chrysler to play out, as announced by the president on Monday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. stock futures slid on Wednesday on the Bloomberg report, with S&P futures down 1.5 percent, while the dollar and the euro fell against the yen, abruptly reversing earlier gains.

GM said the carmaker was focussed on restructuring more quickly and would use the next two months to seek cost-cutting deals with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.

"Our focus is on accelerating the speed of our operational restructuring and reducing liabilities and debt on the balance sheet," said GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem. "During the next 60 days, we will work aggressively on restructuring our financial obligations."

Obama on Monday gave GM 60 days to come up with deeper cost and debt reductions than the biggest U.S. carmaker had proposed in a viability plan submitted last month.

GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a news conference on Tuesday a judgement about whether the carmaker will file for bankruptcy could come before June 1 when its 60-day window expires.