AMR Adds By Subtracting — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | February 1, 2012 4:43 pm

[1]Some of Wednesday’s biggest market news actually came on the job front, as AMR Corp.’s (PINK:AAMRQ[2]) American Airlines announced a plan to lay off thousands in an attempt to emerge from bankruptcy, and reports about possible Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[3]) cuts surfaced.

American Airlines said Wednesday that it would cut about 15% of its work force — some 13,000 jobs — in an attempt to save about $1.25 billion a year in labor costs. The company will cut about 4,600 jobs from maintenance alone, and the Transport Workers Union said it expects many of those jobs will be outsourced overseas, a common practice among the nation’s other major airlines.

American Airlines also hopes to save money through a shift in pension benefits and aircraft efficiencies. AAMRQ stock finished Wednesday trading sharply down, losing more than 11% to finish at 60 cents per share.

Also Wednesday, a report from Seattle television affiliate KOMO-TV (via Barron’s[4]) said Microsoft is prepared to make “significant layoffs” in restructuring. Microsoft lost about 7% of its value in 2011, though MSFT shares are off to a hot start in 2012, gaining 15% in a month.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[5]) stock was down about 8% after a day’s worth of marinating on Tuesday’s gloomy earnings report[6]. The company’s revenues increased but came up well short of estimates, profits dropped by almost 60%, and Amazon laid out a weak forecast for its first-quarter earnings.

Three Up

• Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX[7]): Up 20.8% ($4.39) to $25.53.
• Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR[8]): Up 13.5% ($7.32) to $61.64.
• Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC[9]): Up 9.6% ($3.66) to $41.88.

Three Down

• Renren (NASDAQ:RENN[10]): Down 9.7% (54 cents) to $5.01.
• Exco Resources (NYSE:XCO[11]): Down 8% (63 cents) to $7.23.
• Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH[12]): Down 2.9% (83 cents) to $28.05.

Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[13].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/02/amr-corp-american-airlines-jobs-microsoft-amazon/

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