Airline stocks the only bright spot in transport sector
The Dow Jones Transportation Average slumped 98 points, or 0.9%, with 15 of 20 components trading higher, with all 5 gainers the shares of airline companies. The biggest gainer was Delta Air Lines Inc.'s stock , which rose 1.0% in afternoon trading. Cowen analyst Helane Becker reiterated her bullish outperform rating on Delta, saying her research indicates the air carrier is tracking toward the high end of earnings-per-share expectations, due to strong demand, pricing, moderate fuel costs and cost controls. Delta is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Thursday. Of the Dow transports other 5 airline components, shares of JetBlue Airways Corp. rose 0.8%, Alaska Air Group Inc. gained 0.4%, American Airlines Group Inc. edged up 0.2% and United Airlines Holdings Inc. tacked on 0.1%, while Southwest Airlines Co. shares slipped less than 0.1%. The NYSE Arca Airline Index gained 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 121 points, or 0.5%.
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