Sector Snap: Airline stocks mostly rise

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $3.90 to $96.74 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overall, financial markets fell sharply as a weaker-than-expected reading on the manufacturing sector fanned Wall Street's worries about the health of the economy.

Shares of AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, rose 65 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $10.47, while shares of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, rose 44 cents, or 5 percent, to $9.23. Delta Air Lines Inc. shares rose 68 cents, or 9.1 percent, to $8.13, while shares of Northwest Airlines Corp. rose 78 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $9.81.

Continental Airlines Inc. shares rose 68 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $17.36, while shares of US Airways Group Inc. rose 70 cents, or 11.6 percent, to $6.73.

Among low-cost carriers, Southwest Airlines Co. shares fell 32 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $14.19, while shares of AirTran Holdings Inc., parent of AirTran Airways, rose 8 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $2.51 and shares of JetBlue Airways Corp. rose 3 cents to $4.98.