Shares of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) crashed today on Wall Street on a string a bad news out of its principal subsidiary, American Airlines, as current record-high oil prices continue to wreak havoc on the airline industry.Oil prices have been continuing to soar, and earlier today crude traded through the $133 mark, and nearly busted $134, trading as high as $133.82.
What does this mean for airlines? You guessed it... major changes in order to combat the rising costs of keeping their planes in the air, and after announcing a few new changes today, AMR took the full brunt of Wall Street, as nervous traders pushed the already beaten-up stock down another 24.2%.
So what exactly got the market so spooked? Well, I am not really sure which of the following was the final nail in the coffin; you can almost just take your pick:
- The company announced that it would be slashing the number of flights that it offers
- The company announced that it would start charging for all checked luggage
- And, last but not least, the company is being forced to reduce its workforce
Before the bell: Stocks futures steady ahead of GDP, housing data
Google's plan for netbook PCs moves higher into the clouds
So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium
