Boeing Slumps as Company Weighs Halting 737 Max Output

Investing.com – Boeing (NYSE:) shares were slumping Monday on reports the company is considering shutting down its 737 Max production or cutting output back substantially.

The shares were down 4% at 1:20 PM ET (18:20 GMT), the biggest loser among the 30 stocks in the . The loss cut the gain for the index by about 92 points. The index was up 162 points.

The company’s board was holding a two-day meeting in Chicago, with the 737 Max question on the agenda. The company’s management has proposed halting production until the plane is recertified. A decision may be announced after Monday’s market close or early Tuesday, reports said.

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration said it won’t recertify the plane as ready to return to regular service this year. Boeing (NYSE:) had said it expected to win FAA approval by the end of the month.

The FAA offered no timetable on when the recertification will come. Regulators elsewhere, especially in Europe and China, may take longer to approve the fixes.

The 737 Max has been grounded since March after two planes crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing 346 people. Evidence has indicated the crashes were due to a malfunctioning system designed to help the plane avoid stalls.

Boeing (NYSE:) shares hit an all-time high of $446.01 on March 1, nine days before the Ethiopia crash, and have fallen more than 26% since. Although Boeing has continued to build new planes at its plant in Renton, Wa., outside Seattle, finished planes are stored on tarmacs in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.