SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) -- Airline stocks closed broadly lower Tuesday afternoon after U.S. central bankers raised lending rates and a seven-week high for crude-oil prices weighed on the sector.
The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday afternoon that it has raised interest rates, a 15th consecutive increase that boosted rates to 4.75%, up 25 basis points.
The Amex Airline Index shed 2.7% to 54.04 with eight of the 10 issues in negative territory.
Fed watchers had expected an increase in overnight lending rates by U.S. central bankers.
Crude futures closed New York trading up 3% to $66.07 a barrel as traders awaited weekly supply data.
Frontier Airlines was the biggest percentage decliner, dropping 5.9% to $7.15.
Continental fell 5.1% to $26.70 and AMR shed 5.2% to $26.09.
Other notable decliners included Alaska Air Group , and SkyWest Inc. .
As a rare gainer in the index, AirTran Holdings rose 0.1% to $17.71. Southwest Airlines closed out with a modest gain of 0.4% to $17.54.
JetBlue Airways and ExpressJet Holdings succumbed to the selling and ended in the red.
Outside the index, US Airways Group and UAL Corp. , parent of United Airlines, both lost more than 3%. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see www.marketwatch.com.