Oil prices are tumbling and that is excellent news for airline stocks, a scenario of which many investors are already aware.
Year-to-date, shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) are up nearly 70%. Shares of Southwest (NYSE: LUV) have more than doubled. United Continental (NYSE: UAL) is up 68.4% while American Airlines (NYSE: AAL) has seen its stock nearly double.
Those jaw-dropping performances have investors reminiscing about the days when they had not one but two airline exchange traded funds to choose from. We know this because anecdotal tidbits tell us that visitors to ETF Trends still search for airline ETF stories even though the Guggenheim Airline ETF, the one of the two airline ETFs that lived the longest, closed in March 2013. [No More Airline ETFs]
Investors can fill the airline ETF void with the iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSEArca: IYT) and the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (NYSEArca: XTN) and they have been doing just that in 2014.
“The price of oil is down 39% over the last six months, which is equivalent to a $75 – $100 billion tax cut. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is at a 7-year high as the labor market continues to show signs of strength. An increase in disposable income from lower oil costs likely will be supportive for consumer spending, which equates to 70% of GDP,” said State Street Global Advisors Vice President and Head of Research Dave Mazza in an email exchange with ETF Trends.
Oil’s demise has been a boon XTN and IYT. As the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) has tumbled nearly 33% over the past three months, XTN and IYT are up 9.5% and 5.3%, respectively.