United, American Airlines, US Airways close to upgrade; Delta/US slot swap tentatively approved

All North and South American carriers' stocks were pushed higher on Monday (09-Feb-2010) following better than expected Jan-2010 traffic results from United Airlines (+17.5%) released the day prior, which led investors to believe carriers are starting to recover from the global financial downturn. The AMEX Airline Index ended trading up 7.7% as a result, despite another gain in oil prices (+2.6%), to USD73.75.