Sale also a possibility: The parent company of American Airlines says it expects to spin off regional carrier American Eagle, although it won’t completely rule out a sale. AMR Corp. didn’t offer a timeframe for the plan. American Eagle carries passengers from smaller cities to American Airlines hub airports. American Eagle currently flies from Baton Rouge to Dallas-Fort Worth eight times a day. Jim Caldwell, a spokesman for Baton Rouge Metro Airport, says a spinoff or sale of American Eagle shouldn’t mean a change in local service patterns. In some cases, these sorts of changes have led to airlines getting more aircraft and adding routes to hubs, he says. AMR, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, says making American Eagle an independent company allows it to compete to provide regional service for other big airlines and grow larger. All major U.S. carriers use smaller airlines to run their regional flights.
Fewer new first-time buyers: Fewer Americans bought previously occupied homes in June, putting this year on pace to be the worst for sales since the housing bust. Home sales fell 0.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million homes, the National Association of Realtors says. That’s far below the 6 million homes per year that economists say represents a healthy housing market. Through the first six months of this year, the sales pace is behind last year’s 4.91 million homes sold—the weakest sales in 13 years. Sales have fallen in four of the past five years. The Realtors group says a record number of people who signed contracts canceled deals last month. And first-time buyers fell to a smaller share of the market. Declining home prices have kept many people from selling their houses and taking new jobs in growing areas. They have also made people feel less wealthy, and that has reduced the consumer spending that drives so much economic activity.
