United Continental's stock tumble weighs heavily on Dow transports, peers

Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. tumbled 10% in active morning trade Thursday, on the heels of the air carrier's disappointing passenger revenue outlook. The stock's percentage decline was the biggest among S&P 500 components, while it's price decline of $5.86 accounted for more than half of the Dow Jones Transportation Average's 60-point decline. Volume exceeded 8 million shares within the first 100 minutes of trade, compared with the full-day average of 4.2 million shares. The company reported late Wednesday first-quarter earnings that beat expectations, but disclosed in a filing that it expects second-quarter passenger revenue for available seat mile (PRASM) to decline 6.5% to 8.5% from last year. Analyst Helane Becker at Cowen & Co. was expecting PRASM to decline 5.9% in the current quarter. Shares of other air carriers also fell in United's wake: American Airlines Group Inc.'s slumped 2.9%, Delta Air Lines Inc.'s shed 3.6% and JetBlue Airways Corp.'s slid 2.1%, while Southwest Airlines Co.'s was down less than 0.1%.

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