Dow Transports Suffer Biggest Loss In Nine Months As Oil Prices Spike Up

The Dow Jones Transportation Average slumped 2.7% Monday, the biggest one-day percentage drop since Feb. 3, as the shares of truckers, tankers and air carriers were all hit hard by a sharp bounce in crude oil prices. The index had hit an all-time intraday high of 9310.22 on Friday, after OPEC's decision to keep oil production unchanged sent crude oil futures reeling to a 5-year low. On Monday, crude oil futures shot up 4.3%, the biggest one-day gain since Aug. 3, 2012. Among the Dow transports' biggest losers Monday -- all 20 components suffered losses -- the shares of Kirby Corp. tumbled 6.4%, of Alaska Air Group slid 6.1%, of Norfolk Southern Corp. slumped 4.7%, of CSX Corp. dropped 3.9% and of Ryder System Inc. gave up 3.7%. Although it might make sense for transport stocks to be hurt by rising oil prices, as that implies higher fuel prices, the previous eight days this year that the Dow transports fell more than 2%, oil prices actually declined.