JetBlue Slashes Q4 Outlook as Pandemic Worsens

Highly effective coronavirus vaccines will start rolling out in the U.S. soon. That news has sparked a powerful stock market rally over the past month.

Yet in the meantime, the U.S. is suffering through the worst wave yet of the COVID-19 pandemic. The average number of new cases reported each day quadrupled between the beginning of October and Thanksgiving. More than 90,000 Americans are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 symptoms. Before November, that number had never reached 60,000. And the daily COVID-19 death total exceeded 2,000 on two separate days last week, something that hadn't happened since early May.

Initially, this uptick in cases didn't stop a gradual recovery in air travel demand. But as the "third wave" has worsened, bookings and traffic momentum have slowed. That forced JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) to slash its fourth-quarter forecast on Monday.

Source Fool.com