US airlines are today’s biggest drag on the Nasdaq 100. At the time of writing, American Airlines stock price was down by 6.6% with 10.46 million shares traded, while United Airlines stock price was down by 5.43% with 3.79 million shares traded. In third place, Nvidia was down by 5.02% and 5.51 million shares traded.
The slide in the airlines is attributed to the Coronavirus. Air France in Pairs was also down by 5.56%, while Lufthansa closed lower by 4.33%. Hotels and Casino operators were down too. Also supporting a bearish bias is last week’s soft earnings: American Airlines had a earnings per share of 0.95, while the estimate was for 1.14, while United Airlines had an earnings per share of 2.53 vs. the 2.65 anticipated by the market.
American Airlines’ share price triggered a bearish descending triangle pattern with a price target of $23.28 as long as the price trades below the $28 level.
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United Airlines’ share price is threatening to slide further in the weeks ahead if the price manages to close below the 2019 low of $76.97. A break to that level will trigger the breakout of a large rectangle pattern with a price target of $57.93. The bearish pattern will activate on a close below the the 2019 low, and as long as the price does not trade back into the pattern.
On the flipside, Walgreens Boots was the strongest share of today in the Nasdaq 100 and up by 0.48% on the day with 1.64 million shares traded.