The Dow Jones Transportation Average DJT, +1.11% was rallying 66 points, or 0.4%, while its sister index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.46%, fell 122 points, or 0.4%, almost entirely because of one stock.
Avis Budget Group Inc.’s stock CAR, +10.66% shot up 7.4% toward a three-month high, after the auto rental company beat fourth-quarter profit expectations by a wide margin. Avis’s stock price gain of $16.29 was adding about 99 points to the Dow transports’ price. The other biggest contributor to the Dow transports’ gain was Old Dominion Freight Line Inc.’s stock ODFL, +0.77%, which rose $1.82 to add 11 points, while the biggest drag was Norfolk Southern Corp.’s stock NSC, -1.85%, which fell $6.14 to shave off about 37 points.