Southwest's stock selloff helps drag down shares of airline peers

The airline sector was feeling some turbulence Monday, in the wake of Southwest Airlines Co.'s (LUV) agreement to pay $140 million to settle a federal investigation into last year's holiday-travel debacle. The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) dropped 1.1%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3%, as Southwest shares shed 1.2%. Among the airline ETF's other more-active components, shares of American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) descended 1.8%, of United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL) dropped 2.3%, of Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) fell 2.2% and of JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) gave up 1.4%. The selloff comes as Melius Research analyst Conor Cunningham the outlook for airfares in the coming months is mixed, as airlines continue to faces overcapacity while recent government inflation data showed that airfares have fallen more than broader consumer price measures.

-Tomi Kilgore

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12-18-23 0953ET

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