Airlines Increase Ticket Prices Amid Fuel Surge: 8 Key Items Shaping the Stock Market Thursday

These are the early headlines and other items poised to influence the market at the start of the trading day. As we share this collection of market drivers, U.S. equity futures point to a positive start to the trading day.

1. American Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines are scaling back planned flight schedules following a ‌recent surge in fuel prices that threatens their profits, executives said Wednesday… Executives at all three carriers said on Wednesday that demand remained strong even after price increases, helping them offset much of the higher cost of jet fuel. But the latest jump in fuel is prompting them to reassess less-profitable routes late this year and, potentially, into 2027. (Reuters)

We’ll add the comments from American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL) and Southwest (LUV) to the ones from Norfolk Southern (NSC) and JB Hunt (JBHT) about the negative impact of higher oil and related prices on their cost structures. While oil prices are cooling off again on Thursday from a four-month high as Saudi Arabian supply disruption concerns fade, concerns about the escalating conflict in the Middle East remain. That suggests that even though oil prices may dip further in the near-term, they are likely to remain elevated until the U.S-Iran war is over.

2. Boeing CEO Kelly ‌Ortberg said on Wednesday it is taking “longer than expected” to stabilize the 737 MAX production rate at its target of 47 jets a month, and downplayed expectations that China would announce a large jetliner order during a political summit next week… The company has not been able to make 737 wings fast enough to consistently feed the higher rate of 47 jets a month, Ortberg said. Boeing needs to speed up wing production and certify its new 737 production line in Everett, Washington, in order to raise output to 52 jets a month next year, he said, adding that the supply chain can support the move… Ortberg said that the largest variant of the 737 MAX, the 737-10, will be certified “very soon.” (Reuters)

On Wednesday, the Portfolio used the combination of an tentative four-year contract agreement with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace and large aircraft orders to pick up some additional shares of Boeing (BA). Obviously, if we knew what Ortberg had to say on Wednesday afternoon at the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference, we would have held off and waited for a better pickup price. However, the need to ramp production levels isn’t a new part of the Boeing story and is reflected in Wall Street’s EPS and cash flow expectations. Management has also been vocal about its planned ramp from 47 737s per month to 52 and then 57.

What the Reuters article missed was management’s comment that it has high levels of inventory that reduce the risk of near-term production rates. Rather, wing production needs to stabilize to move to 52 aircraft per month and higher after that. The Reuters article also did not mention Boeing reiterating its guidance for $1 billion to $3 billion in free cash flow this year, and its comment that free cash flow is looking like it should be closer to $2 billion. That context suggests the Boeing story is tracking far more than headlines indicate.

3. A group of 10 banks is providing a $22 billion chip loan to support Blackstone Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s new cloud venture Crux AI, the latest mega-debt deal in the race to finance the expensive processors crucial to artificial intelligence. The debt will be used to purchase tensor processing units, or TPUs, a type of chip made by Google, and will be backed by the value of those chips and Crux AI’s customer contracts, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (Bloomberg)

That is a positive for the Portfolio’s positions in Broadcom (AVGO) and Marvell (MRVL), which both count Google (GOOGL) as a custom silicon customer. To that we can add the increased multi-year outlook issued by EPS All-Stars resident Ciena (CIEN) on Wednesday, which calls for a revenue CAGR of 30% between 2026 and 2029 and bodes well for networking chip demand. That upsized outlook is also supportive for the Portfolio’s position in Arista Networks (ANET).

And the combination of the CruxAI/Google and Ciena news points to Marvell delivering an upbeat presentation at its 2026 Investor Day on October 6.

4. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon cautioned that the bank’s fixed-income trading business is softer than in past quarters and that expenses are running higher across the firm. Fixed income has been softer during the third quarter than equity trading, which has remained “very strong,” Solomon said Wednesday at a Barclays Plc conference. (Bloomberg)

One of the largest nuclear energy initial public offerings of the year has been put on hold amid concerns about a slowdown in the economy and the AI sector. Kris Singh, Holtec International’s founder and chief executive, told the FT on Wednesday that the IPO had been suspended because of the market’s sharp turn against the AI data centre economy in the past few weeks. (FT)

The comments from Goldman’s (GS) Solomon build on those earlier this week from Bank of America’s (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan that the bank’s Q3 2026 sales and trading revenue would be flat year over year. Moynihan also shared expectations for BofA’s investment banking fees to decline about 10% year over year. Amid a quarter of slower IPO activity, it appears competition for deals and trading volume stepped up and we’re likely to see some market share shifts in the quarterly league tables.

While renewed market volatility is helping overall trading volumes, as we can see with Holtec International suspending its planned IPO, the level of activity on that front looks to cool further. Ahead of the expected October IPO for Anthropic, the other high-profile IPO to watch is the one from smart ring company Oura. So far, the expected rebound in September IPO activity has yet to materializes, and given September market seasonality it may not until we get into the seasonally stronger final months of the year. For us that means, we’re in a holding pattern with the Portfolio’s financial holdings.

5. Lennar on Wednesday reported third-quarter profit that more than halved as persistently high mortgage rates weighed on demand for new homes… Like its peers, Lennar continues to grapple with a prolonged affordability crunch as mortgage rates neared 7% during the quarter and weakening consumer confidence prompted buyers to postpone home purchases, slowing demand across the new-home market. (Reuters)

To that we can add the findings of a Reuters poll of property experts this week that showed U.S. mortgage rates will stay higher than previously forecast and decline only modestly over coming quarters, keeping home price growth muted through next year. That suggests we should not expect any meaningful improvement in August housing starts data coming at us later on Thursday morning. It also reaffirms our recent decision to exit the shares of BuildersFirstSource (BLDR) and the likelihood homebuilders use of incentives to move homes isn’t about to wind down, especially following Wednesday’s Fed rate hike.

6. US government agencies are tracking cyber threats against nearly 20 shipping vessels around the world, according to US officials familiar with the situation…Several commercial vessels were targeted in potential cyberattacks in late August, one official at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said, noting that hackers didn’t appear to have taken control of the targeted ships themselves. The Coast Guard is now tracking the vessels alongside FBI and Department of Homeland Security units, a Homeland Security official said. (Bloomberg)

Healthcare and hospital facilities, education institutions, manufacturing firms, financial services companies, government agencies, critical infrastructure, and utilities are among the more commonly touted cyber victims, but now we can extend that to shipping vessels. This reaffirms our view about the need to secure and protect our increasingly connected world and that cybersecurity should be a part of every investor’s holdings. AI, robotics, autonomous cars and other drivers of data center demand are also ones for cybersecurity.

7. Economic data today per TipRanks: Housing Starts & Building Permits (August), Initial & Continuing Jobless Claims (Weekly), Philly Fed Index (September), Pending Home Sales (August), EIA Natural Gas Stocks (Weekly).

8. Companies reporting today per TipRanks: There are no market moving earnings reports expected on Thursday.

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At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long ANET, AVGO, BA, BAC, CIEN, GOOGL and MRVL.