NEW YORK, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- United Rentals (URI: $32) has been picked by Standard & Poor's Equity Research as its Focus Stock of the Week. URI carries S&P's highest investment recommendation of 5-STARS, or Strong Buy.

By Andrew Leckey Whenever summer travel season beckons, airline stocks gain renewed attention. Adventure, faraway places and intrigue are part of this ride. So are oil dependency, fierce competition, volatility, seasonality, economic cycles, capital needs, union contracts and bankruptcies.

While 2007 is seen as a financially solid rebound year for U.S. airlines, a mix of events provided new evidence Jan. 23 of just how challenging the business remains. Shares in the sector suffered a good old-fashioned drubbing after United Airlines' parent, UAL Corp.

By Joe Morris, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Nov. 8--To keep operating, newly bankrupt Independence Air needs to find a big investor willing to take a big chance. After more than a year of losing money, parent company FLYi Inc. of Dulles, Va., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.

morris@wvgazette.com After more than a year of losing money, the parent of discount airline Independence Air appears to be running out of options.