Long before the June 1 negotiating deadline, it became quite clear that General Motors was headed for bankruptcy. Its debtholders were going to get crushed. The shareholders were wiped out. Except that they weren't. As the deadline neared, shares of GM did a funny thing: They kept trading at more than $1 each. They didn't disappear.

Last month, shares rose a few pennies during a given trading day and fell a few pennies the next. Taken as a whole, GM shares reflected nearly $1 billion in value that did not exist. Even today, with GM in bankruptcy, the automaker's shares are trading around $1.50.