Airlines, Brokerages Finally Buck Downard Trend
A few sectors were able to buck the downward trend on Friday, most notably airlines and brokerages, although few others were spared selling.
Airlines
US Airways
(U) - Get Report
was up 2.3% to $4.55.
Continental
(CAL) - Get Report
rose 5% to $14.66, and
Delta Air Lines
(DAL) - Get Report
gained 3% to $22.47.
UAL
(UAL) - Get Report
, the holding company for
United Airlines
, traded fell 0.6% to $17.13, and
Southwest
(LUV) - Get Report
rose 6% to $13.60.
But the news wasn't all good.
Northwest
(NWAC)
was falling 5% to $10.45 following news that the carrier would cut 10,000 jobs, or 25% of its workforce, and reduce service by 20%.
AMR
(AMR)
, the parent of
American Airlines
and
TWA
, was down 3% to $17.90. The company, which earlier this week set plans to cut jobs, detailed that among those let go would be 386 pilots from American Airlines and 120 from TWA. The entire sector has been pounded this week as concerns mount about cash burn rates and evaporating demand.
Technology
Technology stocks, which have generally sold off this week, were still reeling. Computer maker
Dell
(DELL) - Get Report
dropped 4.8% to $16.63, while
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Report
shed 5.8% to $10.76.
Sun Microsystems
(SUNW) - Get Report
was down 6% to $7.96, and
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
sank 6.1% to $12.09.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
slipped 2%, and
JDS Uniphase
(JDSU)
, fell 6.3%.
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
was off 6.6%, while
Texas Instruments
(TXN) - Get Report
gained 1.3%.
Brokerages
Brokerage stocks were mostly up Friday after a brutal week.
Morgan Stanley
(MWD)
rose 6.5% to $40.08, and
Merrill Lynch
(MER)
was up 4.5% to $37.65.
Lehman Brothers
(LEH)
gained 1.8%, and
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
rose 3%.
Charles Schwab
(SCH)
gained 6.3% to $9.50.
Energy
Energy companies were mixed, with most hovering around the flatline. However,
Royal Dutch Petroleum
(RD)
was off 1.8% to $44, while
Halliburton
(HAL) - Get Report
gained 4.7% to $22.58.
Basic Materials
Basic materials stocks were generally off between 1% and 2%, but chemical company
Hercules
(HPC)
shed 5.6% to $6.95, and
Allegheny Technologies
(ATI) - Get Report
lost 9% to $13.20. Steelmaker
Nucor
(NUE) - Get Report
was up 3% to $35.54.