Will QAN survive?, page-4478

It'd be an exaggeration to claim QAN/REX shares move in tandem with USA airline stocks but this report from 'The Oz' online this afternoon highlights some similarities.

There's no guarantee that if the USA experiences relatively harsh economic times, Australia won't. Nor is QAN immune from oil price adverse movements, inflation (especially bad if the A$ is low given so many costs are denominated in US$) or declining business travel:

Listed travel companies are wavering in late afternoon trade as investors digest a serious of "disappointing" airline results on Wall Street overnight.

Shares in Qantas are down 2.2 per cent to $4.50 at 3.33pm AEST, taking total losses for the year to over 12 per cent.

Webjet is among the poorest performers on the S&P/ASX 200, down 5.8 per cent to $5.06, while Flight Centre drops 2.4 per cent and Corporate Travel Management is 3.7 per cent lower to $18.31.

The slump in travel stocks comes are quarterly updates from United Airlines and American Airlines underperformed market expectations. While American Airlines posted its first profit since the pandemic, its earnings per share were below consensus and the airline confirmed it is also scaling back growth amid flight disruptions.

United Airlines has also cut back on its expansion plans for the rest of the year amid higher costs in the quarter.