Delta takes off

Hello traders everywhere! Jeremy Lutz here with your mid-day market update for Tuesday, the 11th of December.

Airline stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances in today, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.7 percent. With the gain, the index has risen to its best intraday level in well over a year.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) has helped to lead the sector higher, jumping by 5.9 percent after announcing a deal to acquire a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic for $360 million.

The markets have also benefited from some upbeat German economic data as well as optimism about the looming fiscal cliff.

A report from the Center for European Economic Research showed a bigger than expected improvement in German investor confidence. The report showed that the expectations index climbed to a positive 6.9 in December from a negative 15.7 in November, turning positive for the first time since May. The current conditions index edged up to 5.7 from 5.4.

Positive sentiment has also been generated by a report from the Wall Street Journal indicating that negotiations between the White House and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have progressed steadily in recent days.

Let's see what the Trade Triangles say about the markets today.

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz