Travel and leisure stocks gained in early trading. UAl, AAL, DAL and LUV shares were up between 4% and 7%.
CCL, RCL and NCLH shares rose between 5% and 8%.The Omicron coronavirus variant is rapidly spreading across the U.S. just as the holiday season’s busiest travel period gets under way.
However, there appear to be no signs yet of the new variant significantly affecting air travel in the U.S. in the run up to Christmas.
More than two million people passed through airport security checkpoints on Monday for the fifth consecutive day, according to Transportation Security Administration data. The numbers have been tracking at between 81% and 85% of traveler throughput against the same days in 2019, although the peak holiday travel days are ahead.