From Tomi Kilgore: Airline stocks fell Monday, bucking the gains seen in the broader market, as concerns over the negative impact from the grounding of Boeing Co.’s BA, -2.00%737 Max jets linger. The NYSE Arca Airline Index XAL, -0.67% dropped 0.9%, as air carrier stocks paced the Dow Jones Transportation Average’s DJT, +0.78%decliners. Among the leading losers, shares of JetBlue Airways Corp.JBLU, -0.81% gave up 1.5%, United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL, -1.21% lost 1.0%, American Airlines Group Inc. ALL, +0.25% slumped 0.9%, Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, -0.89% fell 0.8%, Alaska Air Group Inc. ALK, +0.02% declined 0.4% and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, -0.11% slipped 0.2%. Analyst Jamie Baker at J.P. Morgan said Monday he believes the grounding of the 737 Max jets “is largely immaterial to most North American airlines.” He said if there is a protracted grounding, it could end up being positive for the industry, except for Southwest, which has the largest 737 Max fleet, because it could lead to further consolidation. While the airline stocks fell, the Dow transports rose 0.4% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.26% gained 0.1%.
