Wednesday May 7, 06:35 PM
Transportation sector turns lower as crude oil jumps to another record high
NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - The transportation sector turned broadly lower Wednesday, as crude oil's rally to a third-straight record high undermined earlier support for group.
The iShares DJ Transportation Average ETF (IYT)
shed 2% to $94.12, with 19 of 20 components trading lower. The sector tracking stock had been up as much as 0.6% at the intraday high of $96.59, which was the highest price seen since July 20.
June crude oil futures ran up $1.12 to $122.96 a barrel, and hit an all-time high of $123.36 in intraday trading, after setting record highs in the previous 2 sessions as well. The front-month contract has now gained $10.34 a barrel, or 9.3%, over the past 4 sessions.
Crude dipped briefly to an intraday low of $120.54 a barrel after the Energy Information Administration said crude stocks rose 5.7 million barrels during the week ending May 2, well above market expectations of a 1.4 million barrel rise, according to IFR Markets, before recovering quickly.
Within the transportation sector, YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW - news) slid 2.3% to $18.48. Earlier in the session, the stock had been up as much as 11% at a 5-month high of $20.95 after Stephens Inc. upgraded the trucking company by 2 notches to overweight from underweight, saying the worst is likely behind the company.
Among the ITB (Brussels: ITB.BR - news) 's other trucking components, Con-way Inc. slipped 0.7% to $49.03, J.B. Hunt Transport Services slumped 3.9% to $34.20, C.H. Robinson Worldwide dropped 3.7% to $64.70 and Landstar Systems shed 1.9% to $53.38.
Air carrier components also erased early gains to turn broadly lower, with the Amex Airline Index now down 2.1% at 22.52, reversing an earlier 2.1% intraday gain.
Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL - news) was down 3.2% at $17.01, AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR - news) . lost 2% to $8.67 and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU - news) gave up 1.3% to $4.65.
Among some other more-heavily-weighted ITB components, Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP - news) was 1.8% lower at $146.24, Burlington Northern slid 1.6% to $103.64 and FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX - news) . shed 2.6% to $95.14.
The lone ITB gainer was Overseas Shipholding, which edged up 0.6% to $82.90.
Tomi Kilgore
tk1
COPYRIGHT
Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
NNNN
|
Send Article by Email
