The Economic Times·2026-03-18 01:48Airline and Travel Companies - Shares of airlines and travel companies rebounded, with Delta rising more than 6%, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings climbing over 2%, and Expedia Group jumping more than 4% [1][10][11] - American Airlines Group gained 3.5% after raising its revenue guidance for the current quarter, while United Airlines rose 3.2% [11] Oil Prices and Economic Impact - Concerns over prolonged supply disruptions due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have kept crude prices near $100 a barrel [2][11] - The Federal Reserve is expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged, with rate futures suggesting a potential 25-basis-point cut toward the end of the year, down from around two before the conflict [4][11] Market Performance - The S&P 500 climbed 0.25% to end at 6,716.09 points, with eight of the eleven sector indexes rising, led by energy, which was up 1.02% [7][11] - The S&P 500 financials sector index rebounded 0.5%, with asset managers Blackstone, Apollo Global, and KKR seeing gains of 4.6%, 5.3%, and 3.3% respectively [6][11] Trading Volume and Stock Movements - Trading volume on U.S. exchanges was light, with 16.9 billion shares traded compared to an average of 19.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions [8][11] - Energy companies Occidental and ConocoPhillips rose about 1% each, tracking higher crude prices [8][11] - Eli Lilly fell nearly 6% after being downgraded by HSBC from "hold" to "reduce" [9][11]