The price of oil fell again today and is now below $30/barrel for the first time in 12 years. Along with the fall came most of the US stock markets. If I didn't know any other information except for "the price of oil fell today", my gut reaction would be that the oil companies stock would fall, but the rest of the markets would rise (on average) due to the lower operations cost (and/or increased consumer spending) leading to an increase in profits. This should be especially true for the transportation industry, such as airlines, which consume a lot of gasoline. Yet, in the sharpest decline of the oil price in the past month, airline stock prices have dropped as well. Is my gut feeling incorrect, or is it being overpowered by a stronger force than the price of oil?

**Update:** Not long after I asked this question I did some more research on it and came to the conclusion that the premises for this question were wrong. I had been basing my question on what I had regularly been hearing/reading in the news, which was something similar to "stocks fell again today due to oil taking another dive". I added an answer which shows my conclusions. (I don't like to accept my own answer to my questions, so as of yet I've left it open.)