For The Boeing Co. (BA), the strike may be over, but the fallout continues. Just days after resolving an eight-week strike by 27,000 unionized machinist workers, the Chicago-based aerospace giant announced that the job action will force it to delay the first test flight of its problem-plagued 787 Dreamliner passenger jet until next year.

Boeing was planning to make the inaugural flight of the next-generation jetliner – already delayed four times – during the fourth quarter. But company spokesman Jim Proulx said the strike – which started Sept. 6 and forced Boeing to temporarily shutter its commercial aircraft business – forced the firm to push the test flight into next year.

Boeing is conducting a special assessment to determine just how much the strike affected its production schedule. The company will revise the Dreamliner’s schedule – including a new date for that first test flight – based

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Turning from the mind-rattling analyses of financial stocks for a bit, we sat down with Zacks senior equities analyst John Nelson Simon for a discussion on a sector thatÂ’s easier to sink oneÂ’s teeth into: engineering & construction.

What is your current outlook for Engineering & Construction (E&C) stocks these days?

Conditions are such that the E&C companies, collectively, are doing quite well. The demand for energy, the need for support in war zones, the crumbling infrastructure, the emerging countries -- all are requiring their help. In fact, it's come to a point where the demand is so strong that customers in some cases are willing to go to cost-plus contracting rather than fixed-price. That doesn't happen very often.

In light of what weÂ’ve seen in the financial sector recently, is it better to invest in an industry that manufactures goods?

I don't feel qualified to pick

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The Peridot Capitalist, Chad Brand with some perspective about the 40% decline in shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) from $107 to $64. SOURCE: http://www.peridotcapitalist.com/2008/08/contrarian-call-40-drop-in-boeing.html The decline in shares of Boeing (BA) has been significant over the last year. The stock has fallen 40% from $107 to $64 as high ...

In the battle for supremacy in the aircraft business, there are only two real players - Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) and Airbus (EPA:EAD).  These two companies compete for market share in commercial and military planes, with demand far exceeding each company’s manufacturing ability, and both have a long order backlog.  Some of Boeing’s customers, for example, will wait as long as five years before the planes they ordered are delivered.  And while they fill these orders, both companies must keep innovating.  As oil prices continue to soar, and airline companies like Delta and American Airlines struggle with tight margins, planes that fly faster, fit more passengers, and consume less fuel are at a premium.

And so each company has designed its own new super-plane - for Airbus, the A380, and for Boeing the 787 Dreamliner.  The Airbus plane has already debuted (its first flight was in October 2007),

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