Why Airline Shares Fell Today
Friday was a gloomy day on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 index falling nearly 2%. Airline shares underperformed the indexes, with United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL), American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), and Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA) all closing down more than 5%.
Airline stocks took it on the chin in 2020, with the pandemic causing travel demand to evaporate and pushing the entire industry into the red. As we said yesterday, fourth-quarter earnings have come in largely as dismal as expected, and investors right now are more focused on trying to figure out how soon a recovery might take hold.
Most of the news on Friday was negative. In a memo to employees obtained by Reuters, United said it could furlough up to 14,000 employees when government payroll support expires on April 1, saying that "despite ongoing efforts to distribute vaccines, customer demand has not changed much."
Source Fool.com
