Airline shares fell across the board on Friday following an analyst downgrade of several carriers, citing a more challenging environment this year. Michael Linenberg, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, lowered ratings of American Airlines Group , Delta Air Lines Inc. , United Continental , and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. to hold from buy. “We have observed a slowdown in U.S. corporate profits which is a concern given that they are a leading indicator of economic activity, and therefore, could lead to reduced demand for corporate travel,” he said in a note. Still, consumer spending remains healthy, which could lead to steady demand for leisure travel, he said. As a result, the analyst said he favors domestic airlines that are less dependent on corporate travel such as Southwest Airlines Co. , Alaska Air Group Inc. , JetBlue Airways Corp. , Spirit Airlines Inc. , and Skywest Inc. . United was the biggest laggard among S&P 500 airline stocks, falling 6%, followed by American which fell 3.6%. Delta dropped 3.4% and Southwest shed 1.5%. JetBlue shares rose 1.1% but Alaska, Spirit and Skywest all traded lower.
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