Thursday, July 17, 2008

Airline stocks rally for a third straight day (AMR; CAL; DAL; LCC; NWA; UAUA)

This is an update for folks following the progress of "High Flyers: Oil and the Airlines (CAL; DAL; LCC; NWA)".
From MarketWatch:

Lower oil prices, solid quarterly results and capacity cuts bolster sector
Airline shares rallied for a third consecutive session on Thursday as oil prices continued to decline and after Continental Airlines reported a narrower-than expected loss and a stronger cash position.
The Amex Airline Index added more than 4% at last check to 16.89 points with all of its 14 components in the green. The index is now 33.4% above its all-time low of 12.66 struck early Tuesday, and at its highest point for the month.
Crude for August delivery fell 45 cents to stand at $134.13 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex, and is now 8.6% below the $147.27 record high hit last Thursday. See Future Movers.
Also helping to boost stocks has been some fairly solid results from some of the nation's largest airlines despite investor concerns that over-the-top fuel bills might cause a hemorrhaging of cash and push carriers to the brink of collapse....MORE

Oil was recently down $0.77 but stubbornly above the $132.00 that has been the floor for the last seven weeks.