Editor's note: Each week Mountain Business Journal will take a look at the local stock index (located on the left-hand side of page 1) and compare it to changes in both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ. We will also look at a few local and national industry indicators to comment on potential reasons for positive, negative and neutral changes in all three indices.
Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ saw gains over last week, with the Dow seeing a 3.53 percent increase over last Tuesday's closing and the NASDAQ seeing a 3.01 percent spike. The local stock index, however, more than doubled those numbers with a gain of 6.78 percent.
Nationally, a 1 percent increase in the dollar versus the euro coupled with a $11.14 slip in the price per barrel of crude oil have tempered consumer concerns about the impact of higher energy costs on consumers and businesses, resulting in a larger and higher-priced trade volume.
Locally, the drop in crude oil price led to a dramatic impact for UAL Corp, parent company to United Airlines, and Delta, which had 54.49 percent and 36.67 percent increases, respectively, over last week's stock prices. UAL Corp's gain can also be attributed to financial maneuvers that will add $1.7 billion to its cash balance, despite a $2.73 billion second-quarter loss. The new funds will come from an extended credit-card agreement with Chase Bank USA, new debt on its planes, as well as other cost-cutting moves like new fees for checking luggage.
Zions Bankcorp, parent company of Vectra Bank, also contributed to the local stock index's large jump with a 30.49 increase in stock price over last week. The company recently announced that regular quarterly dividends will be payable on Aug. 20.
Only one local stock, Kroger, who operates locally under the City Market brand, saw a decrease compared to last week's numbers. The .77 percent drop has been attributed to normal market fluctuations.
