Boeing Dive

In Wall Street, Boeing Airplane Co. last week supplied a sad example of how jittery the stock market is these days, especially in reaction to offhand remarks of Administration officials. At a press conference, Secretary of Defense Wilson vaguely remarked that production of the B-52 intercontinental bomber might soon "be up for reconsideration," depending on the performance of Convair's newer, supersonic B58 Hustler bomber. Though Wilson's statement did nothing more than reflect the routine Pentagon procedure of constantly reappraising air needs, the Wall Street Journal blew it up into a long scare story headlined: PENTAGON WEIGHS FUTURE OF B-525 . . . and the Dow-Jones ticker carried a bulletin about the possible replacement of the B-52. In little more than an hour, Boeing dropped 3 1/2 points from 52, reached a low of 47 1/2 before the Air Force hastily announced that Boeing had firm orders for 502 B-52 bombers. At week's end, still not completely recovered from the shock, the stock stood at only 48 3/8 even though Boeing announced that its present orders will keep it busy for at least three years.

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