What happened
On Monday, the cruise industry -- indeed, just about every industry related to travel and leisure in any way -- got knocked for a loop by worries that a revived coronavirus, fueled by its delta variant, would throw the world back into lockdown.
It took less than 24 hours for those worries to apparently subside.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
On Tuesday, shares of travel and leisure stocks rebounded strongly:
- Hotel, casino, and resort company MGM Resorts (MGM 2.15%) achieved a 4.8% gain by the closing bell.
- Royal Caribbean (RCL 4.86%) shares rose 7.7% on the day.
- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH 3.73%) closed 8.3% higher.
What was the catalyst behind Tuesday's rebound? As Marketwatch quoted one group of bemused analysts who were posed the question, "The rebound reflected ideas the previous sell-off was overdone."
In other words, there wasn't a clear reason for today's bounce back.
Now what
What's interesting about today's rebound, though, is the net results after the past two trading days:
- MGM Resorts stock now sits 1.2% above where it closed on Friday last week.
- Royal Caribbean shares cost 3.5% more today than they did then.
- And Norwegian Cruise has not only recovered all its losses of yesterday, but also booked a gain of 2.3% from Friday.
That's right: It's just as if Monday never happened at all! So I guess the lesson for investors who sold in a panic yesterday is one of the oldest pieces of advice ever written: "Act in haste, repent at leisure."
