Why Airline Shares Are Soaring Today

We've been saying for a while now that airline shares are likely to rise and fall based on sentiment about how quickly the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic will be contained and how severe its impact on the economy will be. Wall Street has adopted an optimistic tone in recent days, and that mood is having an oversize impact on airline stocks.

Shares of American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL), Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA), and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) all gained more than 20% on Tuesday morning, while shares of United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) were all up double digits as of 10 a.m.