Share of air carriers traded broadly higher Monday, amid growing optimism that the latest surge in COVID-19 cases to record daily levels won’t lead to widespread shutdowns given the omicron variant appears less severe and as more people are vaccinated. The U.S. Global Jets ETF
JETS,
rallied 2.8% in afternoon trading, to outperform the S&P 500’s
SPX,
0.4% gain by a wide margin. Among the more active air carriers, shares of American Airlines Group Inc.
AAL,
hiked up 4.3% toward a six-week high, United Airlines Holdings Inc.
UAL,
rallied 3.7%, Delta Air Lines Inc.
DAL,
climbed 2.9%, Southwest Airlines Co.
LUV,
rose 2.1% and JetBlue Airways Corp.
JBLU,
tacked on 2.6%. Analyst Conor Cunningham at MKM Partners said he expects airlines to slow capacity to stabilize operations amid the surge in cases, but that might not be a bad thing longer term. “Slowing capacity will highlight cost headwinds but should allow for better pricing power,” Cunningham wrote in a note to clients.