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Wall Street airlines - AMR, Continental lock in gains ahead of report - UPDATE 2
AFX
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SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) -- Continental Airlines and AMR shares advanced strongly Tuesday as the two carriers got set to kick off a slate of quarterly results that begins Wednesday.
The Amex Airline Index gained 1.9% to 52.07 points. Crude-oil futures closed higher as the session wound down in New York.
As the strongest percentage gainer in the index, AirTran rose 6.5% to $10.65.
Ahead of quarterly results expected out Wednesday, American parent AMR Corp. gained 2.5% to $14.23. The company's shares also stood out Monday as a leading advancer.
Continental Airlines rallied 4.1% to $15.70 ahead of its Wednesday report.
Delta Air Lines , slated to report its results Thursday, lost 1.3% to finish the session at $3.87.
Meanwhile, Northwest Airlines fell 0.9% to $4.63.
Northwest said Tuesday that it doesn't want arbitration by the National Mediation Board with workers represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.
Citing the drawn-out nature of arbitration, Northwest said it 'has no choice [and] must achieve significant labor savings this year.'
The union, which represents mechanics, cleaners and custodians, had said earlier this month that it wanted to be released from the arbitration process. That could set up a 30-day period after which a strike is possible if union members vote to authorize a walkout. Voting by AMFA members ended at 10 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.
Pinnacle Airlines rose 8.8% to $9.50 after Prudential Equity Group upgraded shares to overweight from neutral, stating that the shares are 'an extreme value and are likely to recover during the next few months, as investors better understand the Northwest situation and Pinnacle's relationship to Northwest.'
Elsewhere in the index, shares of JetBlue Airways rose 1.5% to $22.33 and Southwest Airlines fell 1% to $14.43.
Outside the index, America West Holdings rose 5.3% to $7.91 on the heels of gains in Monday's session.
The Air Transport Association said Tuesday that June domestic revenue-passenger-mile yield rose 3.2% over last year to 11.89 cents -- the highest level so far this year. Atlantic revenue passenger miles rose to 11.95 cents, up 7.7% over last year and also the highest this year, while the Pacific figure rose 5.1% to 9.91 cents.
This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see www.marketwatch.com.
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