Strange Market Activity in Delta and Ebay

Something interesting occurred about a week ago.  In a single day, Delta airlines posted a record lost of $5.2 billion dollars, which amounted to $47 per share, for the last quarter of 2004.  That was a record loss for the airlines.   What happened to the stock?  It lost 9.8% of its share value to close at $5.37, it fell further to bottom out at $4.41.  And as of today, it’s gained back much of that loss to close at $5.67. 

Now, to give you some contrast.   On the same day that Delta announced record losses, another company announced record profits.  That company grew its profits about 44% from the previous quarter.  However, it did one thing wrong – it missed the analyst’s expectations by 1 cent – the first time it had ever done that.  What happened?  The stock plunged 20% during the next 24 hrs losing $19.72 and it’s gone even lower since that time to close today at 78.80 a 26% shallacking.  The stock with record earnings was Ebay. Be careful out there.