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Alert: Airline stocks fall on Iraq jitters
United Press International - February 20, 1998 19:05
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NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) - Airline stocks fell sharply Friday amid
concerns about a U.S. military confrontation with Iraq, while technology
issues turned in another mixed performance.
Some analysts said airline issues lost ground amid fears that a U.S.
military confrontation with Iraq could fuel higher fuel prices and
trigger terrorist attacks on U.S. entities.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. dropped 5 13/16 to 123 7/8, United
Airlines parent UAL Corp. slipped 3 1/2 to 85 1/4, Delta Air Lines Inc. slid
3 1/8 to 115 3/16 and USAir Group Inc. fell 1 15/16 to 64 1/16.
Compaq Computer topped the Big Board actives, falling 7/8 to 34 1/16.
Eli Lilly followed, rising 1 3/16 to 61 5/8, as the drug maker extended
Thursday's rebound.
Hewlett-Packard was third, ending unchanged at 64 15/16, while its
fellow Dow component IBM inched down 1/8 to 102 5/8.
Among other technology issues, Texas Instruments ended unchanged at
58 7/8, Micron Technology inched up 1/16 to 34 but Motorola fell 13/16 to
60 3/16.
On Nasdaq, Intel was the second most active issue, rising 1 1/4 to 91
13/16.
Dell Computer was third, climbing 3 9/16 to 126 5/16.
Microsoft edged up 1/4 to 155 1/8 and Cisco Systems added 3/8 to 65 13/16,
but Sun Microsystems fell 3/4 to 46 1/4 and Oracle eased 3/16 to 25 1/8.
Ciena Corp. led the Nasdaq actives, tumbling 16 1/8 to 42. The
telecommunications equipment supplier reported late Thursday fiscal
first-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share on a diluted basis, well
above the year-ago's 13 cents and 2 cents ahead of analysts' mean
estimate.
But Ciena warned of weaker-than-expected earnings in the second
quarter as a result of reduced orders from WorldCom Inc., the nation's
fourth largest long-distance carrier. WorldCom rose 9/16 to 39.
Elsewhere on the NYSE, GTECH Holdings gained 1 15/16 to 33 9/16 after
the Texas Lottery Commission decided Thursday to keep the supplier of
computerized lottery products as the main operator of Texas lottery
games.
Elsewhere on Nasdaq, Adaptec Inc. slipped 2 5/16 to 23 5/16 after a
rating downgrade by SoundView Financial following the computer products
maker's agreement late Thursday to acquire the U.S. subsidiary of South
Korea's Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. for $775 million.
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Copyright 1998 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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