It looks like the end of an era for Southwest Airlines (LUV)... Last Thursday, the airline announced it would be changing its seating policy.

The Power Gauge Knows Southwest Needs to Make Changes By Vic Lederman, editorial director, Chaikin Analytics It looks like the end of an era for Southwest Airlines (LUV)... Last Thursday, the airline announced it would be changing its seating policy. Southwest plans to switch to an assigned seating system. That means it will be able to charge more for premium seats. Assigned seating is common in the airline industry. But as you surely know, Southwest has been an outlier when it comes to seating... Its "open seat" boarding system has been a key feature since the 1970s. In fact, the company used a "first come, first served" boarding process at the gate until 2007. Without question, it's an unconventional approach. But Southwest founder Herb Kelleher liked it that way. As he once said...   Conventional wisdom put a hell of a lot of airlines out of business. But today, Southwest's stock is struggling. And it looks like the company is finally giving in to shareholder and customer pressure for a more conventional approach. If you're a Power Gauge user, Southwest's struggles aren't surprising. After all, the company has held a "bearish" or "neutral" rating for most of the past five years. So today, let's take a closer look at whether the Power Gauge sees a turnaround in the works... Recommended Links: Critical Update for All Chaikin Analytics Readers The CEO of the world's largest independent financial research firm just stepped forward with an urgent announcement. He revealed how making just ONE simple change to the way you follow Marc Chaikin's research could dramatically boost your portfolio returns and make you more money. We recommend you get the facts for yourself here. The No. 1 Stock for the Rare 'Millionaire Window' Opening NOW According to Wall Street legend Whitney Tilson, an extremely rare window in the markets is about to open. It's an often-misunderstood market setup only seen 13 times since 1920. The last time this happened, it minted a million brand-new millionaires – in a single year. But Whitney says this unique window in the markets could close much sooner than anyone realizes, leaving most investors in the dust, while making a select few incredibly rich. Get the No. 1 stock (with 500%-plus upside potential) for this rare market event now. Folks, there's no question that passenger airlines have struggled since the 2020 pandemic. We all remember the lockdowns amid the depths of the pandemic. With them in place across the globe, passenger travel collapsed. And even the pent-up travel demand after the pandemic receded hasn't been enough to bring the airlines back into stronger territory. In fact, the Power Gauge currently rates passenger airlines as a weak industry group. So we know that the whole group is going through a rough patch. But it's particularly bad for the budget carriers... Shares of Frontier (ULCC) are down nearly 80% since the company went public in 2021. And over the past five years, Spirit Airlines (SAVE) is down a staggering 93%. Put simply, Southwest isn't the odd man out here. Sure, its stock is "only" down about 48% over the past five years. But a decline like that is still painful for investors. Take a look at the chart below... As you can see, Southwest's stock suffered a massive collapse in 2020. (Of course, that was shared across the entire industry.) You can also see the stock's sharp recovery that peaked in 2021. But it has been downhill since then. The Power Gauge followed it along the way. Since 2021, Southwest has held a "bearish" or "neutral" rating in our system nearly the entire time. Right now, the company gets a "bearish" grade. That's exactly what we want to see in a situation like this. It's a warning to investors. And it makes the decision-making process clear... As Chaikin Analytics founder Marc Chaikin likes to say, "Bottom-fishing is the most dangerous sport in investing." Despite that, investors are often tempted to buy into struggling industries... hoping for a rebound. With the Power Gauge, we have an easy answer. The passenger airlines industry group currently earns a weak rating. And we see that airlines are struggling in general. Digging deeper, we see that the budget carriers have it the worst right now. And their stocks have seen massive declines over the past five years. Knowing that, it's no surprise that they're looking to make big changes. Southwest dropping its historic seating policy is likely just the start. But that doesn't mean it's time to buy yet. The Power Gauge is still flashing a major warning sign for Southwest. Good investing, Vic Lederman Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 +0.28% 7 19 4 S&P 500 +1.57% 139 299 58 Nasdaq +2.97% 15 62 22 Small Caps +0.64% 725 997 249 Bonds +1.02% Information Technology +4.24% 14 47 6 — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks are Bullish. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Industrials +3.79% Discretionary +3.41% Communication +3.21% Energy +3.15% Materials +2.82% Financial +2.72% Utilities +2.42% Real Estate +2.26% Information Technology +1.35% Staples +0.08% Health Care -0.16% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Transportation Services 4 26 14 Over the past 6 months, the Transportation subsector (XTN) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -10.79%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Weak, with more Bearish than Bullish stocks. It is currently ranked #20 of 21 subsectors. Indicative Stocks SAVE Spirit Airlines, Inc FWRD Forward Air Corporat HTZ Hertz Global Holding *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers VST +14.81% MTCH +13.21% NVDA +12.84% CEG +12.51% AVGO +11.96% Losers HUM -10.61% VRSK -8.48% BG -8.14% CDW -6.18% MAR -4.8% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close TRGP, HWM, CI, CMI, PNW, REGN, EXC, ETR ALL, VTR, VRTX, PRU, MTD, MRNA, MPWR, HII, ES, ANET K, XEL, KIM, LH, PWR, RVTY, SO, SWK, TFX, AME, IRM, ICE, HSY, GWW, ETN, D, COP, CMCSA, BIIB, BDX, BALL, APD INTC, AAPL, AMZN, RMD, REG, APA, MSI, APTV, BIO, MCHP, LNT, CLX, GEN, GDDY, FTNT, FRT, CE, ED, CTRA, CPT BKNG, IEX No earnings reporting today. Earnings Surprises ALL The Allstate Corporation Q2 $1.61 Beat by $1.25 CVNA Carvana Co. Q2 $0.23 Beat by $0.97 BA The Boeing Company Q2 $-2.90 Missed by $-0.89 ANSS ANSYS, Inc. 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