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Don't fear the swine flu . . . trade it

I remember Toronto during SARS. As one of the harder hit areas, it was not a happy place. It was the end of winter, but that miserable, cold winter just didn't want to end. People walked the streets in a gloomy haze, afraid to take the subway and giving dirty looks to anyone brazen enough to cough in public. Worse, I couldn't even visit a friend in the hospital. All things considered though, in global pandemic terms, it was over relatively quickly. Let's hope swine flu will be the same.

In the meantime, let's put on our investors hats and see what's in store for some stocks:

Travel and tourist stocks
This is one of the worst hit areas, especially airlines, as people may cancel their travel plans. For example, AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) traded over 9 percent lower an hour after the open. Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) was down over 15 percent. In fact UBS downgraded these airlines and hotels this morning: AMR, Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL), Host Hotels and Resorts (NYSE: HST), Lasalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO), Marriott (NYSE: MAR), United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA), US Airways (NYSE: LCC). Carnival Cruise Lines (NYSE: CCL) also declined considerably. Best to stay away from the sector.

Continue reading Don't fear the swine flu . . . trade it

Virgin America enters U.S. airspace -- What does that mean for U.S. airlines?

As of today, there's a new airline in the skies: Virgin America. That's right folks: British Billionaire Richard Branson has expanded his Virgin Atlantic fleet across the pond. The new San Francisco-based start-up will use a fleet of Airbus A320's to fly two routes: San Francisco to J.F.K in New York and San Francisco to Los Angeles International.

While Virgin America will only open with those two routes, they plan on ramping its schedule fast. In the next three months, Virgin will add Las Vegas and Washington Dulles to the schedule and move up to a total 10 U.S. destinations a year from now. The fleet plans to service 30 destinations within the next five years.

Continue reading Virgin America enters U.S. airspace -- What does that mean for U.S. airlines?

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-37.1910,741.98
NASDAQ-16.872,374.41
S&P 500-5.921,159.90

Last updated: March 19, 2010: 07:06 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

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Apple Inc

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Google Inc 'A'

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Bank of America

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Wal-Mart Stores

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Exxon Mobil Corp

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Ford

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Citigroup

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IBM

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Yahoo

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Starbucks

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Microsoft

29.59-0.02(-0.07)

Home Depot

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