Market Currents

• Friday, December 11, 2009

• 16:26 PM With Delta Air Lines (DAL +13.9%) leading, Bloomberg's U.S. Airlines Index gained 9.6% to reach a post-January high. Lower crude prices may be helping, and a slump in flying may be easing as carriers are posting their strongest traffic since June 2008. Other airlines: [[AMR]] +9.2%, [[CAL]] +9.5%, [[UAUA]] +8.1%, [[LCC]] +10.5%, [[LUV]] +6.7%. 1 Comment

• Wednesday, December 9, 2009

• 13:58 PM CreditSights says United's order for 50 planes from Boeing (BA) and Airbus smacks of government support: "While not disclosed, it sounds like UAL (UAUA) received backstop financing at attractive, government-subsidized rates - the oil that will lubricate the industry's replacement cycle," firm says. Meanwhile, Boeing is churning out planes with help from a Depression-era program: the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Comment!

• Tuesday, December 8, 2009

• 09:26 AM UAL (UAUA +2%) orders 25 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and 25 Boeing (BA -0.1%) 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which will enable the carrier to reduce operating costs and better match aircraft to key markets. Comment!

• Wednesday, December 2, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: SNTS +27%. DYAX +26%. KERX +14%. CYTR +14%. TSTR +7%. NVAX +7%. UAUA +5%. AMR +4%. RFMD +4%. HEAT +4%.
  Losers: RBS -6%. RGNC -5%. ING -5%. DPTR -4%. Comment!

• Monday, November 30, 2009

• 14:11 PM The modest gain in air traffic, reversing earlier declines, is showing up in airline stocks this afternoon: UAL (UAUA +6.8%), US Airways (LCC +5.5%), Continental (CAL +4.6%), AMR (AMR +3.6%), Delta (DAL +2.9%), Southwest (LUV +2.8%) and JetBlue (JBLU +2%) all up over 2% today. 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 19, 2009

• 13:28 PM Major companies paid top execs $350M in the few years before dropping employee pension plans, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. Sources say the report singles out four egregious cases: UAL (UAUA), U.S. Airways (LCC), Polaroid and insurer Reliance Motors and Drivers. United Airlines parent UAL missed nearly $1B in required contributions. 2 Comments
• 09:58 AM Airline stocks feeling the pinch of a glitch in the FAA's auto-flight-scheduling system, which went down early this morning, causing the cancellation and/or delay of thousands of flights. LCC -3.7%. AMR -3.5%. CAL -3.1%. DAL -3%. UAUA -2%. Comment!

• Tuesday, October 27, 2009

• 11:47 AM Continental Airlines (CAL +3.1%) officially joins the Star Alliance network, enabling cooperation with United (UAUA), Lufthansa and Air Canada, after antitrust exemptions were granted earlier this year. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, October 20, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: MPS +22%. BPAX +11%. LXK +9%. IRE +8%. AAPL +6%. NVAX +5%. CAT +6%. UAUA +6%. MGM +5%. HGSI +5%. UNH +4%. BK +5%. PH +5%. AIB +4%. PSO +4%. BTU +4%.
  Losers: MI -8%. FRE -7%. BSX -7%. Comment!
• 08:27 AM UAL (UAUA): Q3 EPS of -$0.43 beats by $0.51. Revenue of $4.43B (-20.3%) in-line. Shares +8.1% premarket. (PR) 3 Comments
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: ALV, BK, BIIB, BLK, BTU, CAT, CMA, COH, DGX, DRH, DD, EAT, FRX, GAP, ITW, JEF, JRN, KO, LXK, LMT, MTB, PCP, PH, PFE, RF, SHW, STT, SVU, UAUA, UNH, UTX, WU Comment!

• Wednesday, October 14, 2009

• 13:13 PM FAA fines for United parent UAL Corp. (UAUA) could reach $3.8M and US Airways (LCC) $5.4M for safety violations - in United's case, for operating a 737 for more than 200 flights with shop towels covering the oil sump, rather than protected caps. 2 Comments

• Monday, October 5, 2009

• 14:28 PM UAL Corp. (UAUA +2%) will refinance $659B in debt against United Airlines' fleet, just a few days after announcing an issue to raise $424M. 1 Comment

• Friday, October 2, 2009

• 07:24 AM The European Commission says British Airways, American Airlines (AMR) and Iberia's oneworld alliance may violate antitrust laws. Probes into the Star Alliance pact (Lufthansa, Continental (CAL), United (UAUA) and Air Canada) and Skyteam members (Air France/KLM and Delta/Northwest (DAL)) are still ongoing, EC says. 1 Comment

• Thursday, October 1, 2009

• 10:49 AM United parent UAL (UAUA) is down 12.3% after saying late Wednesday it would sell another 19M shares and $175M in convertible notes, not including the underwriters' take. A bad omen for an industry that "needs all the cash it can get," rivals are down in sympathy. CAL -5.1%. LCC -4.9%. AMR -4.4%. DAL -3%. 1 Comment

• Wednesday, September 30, 2009

• 16:37 PM United parent UAL (UAUA) announces a public offering of 19M shares with an over-allotment option of another 2.85M shares, and $175M of convertible senior notes. Shares down 7.1% AH.(PR) 1 Comment