• Boeing's (NYSE:BA) new head of its commercial aircraft division, Jim Albaugh, said the long-awaited Dreamliner test will happen by yearend

• Citigroup (NYSE:C) plans to sell Bellsystem 24, a Japanese telemarketing company, to Bain Capital for $1 billion, bringing to $10.8 billion the dollar amount Citi has raised from sales of Japanese assets

• Hedge fund Paulson & Co. reported in a September 30 filing Citigroup (NYSE:C) holdings of 300 million shares, valued at $1.45 billion

• Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) raised its bid for Tandberg ASA to $3.4 billion, or about an 11% increase, and extended its offer to December 1

• According to a Bloomberg report, Mitsubishi UFJ has hired JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to manage an $11 billion secondary offering, Japan's largest ever. The company plans to sell about 2.5 billion common shares

• Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) said it plans to spin off its 83% stake in Mead Johnson Nutrition

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Here’s another story fanning the economic recovery’s flames: The much-delayed Boeing 787 Dreamliner might finally take flight this year.

Late last week, Boeing (NYSE:BA) said that its long saga of delays and frustrations with the much-hyped jet are coming to an end. The first Dreamliner is now on track to leave terra firma by the end of the year, and the jet will actually be delivered to various international airways by the end of 2010.

Just how late is the Dreamliner? Japanese airliner All Nippon will get the first in 2010… since they were originally promised delivery by the start of the Beijing Olympics.

“My next buy recommendation is based on some of the historic changes happening in air transportation,” notes Chris Mayer, who chronicled the Dreamliner saga in the latest Capital & Crisis alert. “One of the key drivers of this change is what I call the

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Is the recession technically over? The strongest argument for recovery we’ve seen yet… Rob Parenteau shares his new macro economic forecast… “Told you so!” writes Byron King — “breaking news” he and The 5 scooped in March 2008… Plus, Chris Mayer’s latest contrarian play…

Our forecast today: The government and mainstream media will soon be calling the end of the recession. Leading this feeble cause is the latest ISM manufacturing index, probably the most powerful argument for recovery we’ve seen yet:

This morning, the ISM said its gauge of manufacturing activity had risen to 52.9 in August – out of contraction for the first time since the recession began and the highest score since June 2007. Of course, things are a bit different now, but over the last 60 years, when the manufacturing sector returns to growth, the recession has already ended. That prospect

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• The head of Boeing's (NYSE:BA) aircraft division announced plans to retire, following last week's long-awaited release of its Dreamliner schedule

• AIG (NYSE:AIG) and its former CEO and CFO have reportedly agreed to terms of binding arbitration in settling claims from shareholders regarding lost investments due to financial restatements

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will host a September 9, music-themed media event in San Francisco, expected to include a new iPod line, with a Beatles' catalogue available on its iTunes store

• Sony (NYSE:SNE) will distribute Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chrome browser on its Vaio PCs

• Media reports said Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is planning to repay part of the $45 billion in government aid recovered from TARP, beginning with a $20 billion repayment.  The move would remove its status as a recipient of "exceptional aid," allowing certain government oversight measures to be lifted

• EBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is expected to announce plans to sell its Skype Internet

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Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) yesterday (Thursday) announced it would test-fly its 787 Dreamliner later this year but disappointed customers by delaying delivery of the plane until the fourth quarter of 2010.

Wall Street cheered the announcement as Boeing’s stock soared more than 6% in New York trading after the company said it still expects the 787 to be profitable.

The rally came despite news that costs for the first three test planes would be charged-off as having no commercial value, resulting in an estimated pretax charge of $2.5 billion, or $2.21 a share, in the third quarter. Boeing said the charge wouldn’t affect its cash flows.

“This new schedule provides us the time needed to complete the remaining work necessary to put the 787’s game-changing capability in the hands of our customers,” said Boeing Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney.

The 787, already two years behind its original schedule, was scheduled for its

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• Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) reported better-than-estimated earnings of $1.29 a share, 13 cents above estimates, after yesterday's market close, as the company benefited from its arthritis drug and tax benefits.  The firm raised its full-year earnings outlook to $4.80-$4.95 per share from $4.55-$4.75 per share and consensus estimates of $4.57

• This morning’s report indicate Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) have agreed to jointly market an osteoporosis treatment, that could generate $2 billion in annual sales within ten years if given regulatory approval

• Barclays (NYSE:BCS) cut Boeing (NYSE:BA) shares to "equal weight" from "overweight", on delays and undetermined cost overruns in its Dreamliner program. Price targets were cut from $60 to $46

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised its rating on the US steel sector to "buy" from "neutral," noting a faster-than-expected recovery in world markets and a leaner US supply chain. Analysts upgraded US Steel (NYSE:X) in advance of today's earnings release to

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Boeing, Co. (BA) posted better than expected second-quarter results before the bell this morning on strong defense sales and cost saving measures in its commercial airline business.

Earnings came in at $1.41 per share, up from $1.16 last year when the company took a one-time hit of 22 cents related to the late delivery of military aircrafts. Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.19. Sales edged up 1% to $17.15 billion.

The company said that its commercial aircraft backlog stood at $257 billion, while the backlog for its integrated defense systems was $70 billion. Boeing also addressed ongoing issues with the late delivery of its Dreamliner aircraft, saying it has identified solutions to certain structural problems that it will announce in the third quarter.

Boeing went ahead and confirmed its full-year forecast, saying it still expects to earn between $4.70 and $5.00 per share. Analysts are a bit

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Commodity prices and world stocks rose while the U.S. dollar and government bond prices slipped on Friday when investors cautiously put money back into riskier assets.

U.S. crude pricesraced above $71 a barrel, extending a 2 percent gain the day before, after rebel attacks on Nigerian oil facilities disrupted supply. Firmer oil prices supported metal prices, with gold edging above $940 to a one-week high.

Global equities were also in demand, with the MSCI world equity index advancing 0.9 percent and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.2 percent.

The MSCI world equity index is up more than 21 percent this quarter, on track for the biggest quarterly gain in its 20-year history.

“It is clear that the rebound in global equity markets has lost some steam,” Barclays Wealth said in a note.

“It appears to us that stocks are now broadly fairly valued, having erased their previous undervaluation faster than expected. Further share price gains may

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The week of June 26th was very bad to Boeing. After continued reassurance from CEO Jim McNerney that the company’s much anticipated (and previously delayed) Dreamliner 787 would be delivered by the 23rd, Boeing once again came up short. To investors, this was simply one slip-up too many… and a company that cannot fulfill promises is a company worth selling. Making matters worse, the next day, the U.S. Department of Defense terminated the land warfare weapons program headed by BA’s Integrated Defense Systems unit worth an estimated $160 billion. Thinking that there was no possible way to add more grief onto shares of Boeing, Qantas Airways canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners after being “disappointed” by Boeing’s management.

Shares slid on the day of the initial 787 delay by 6.46%. On the day of the

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Today’s markets maintain a level of anxiety that another leg-down is coming, namely the notion that we may revisit our former lows of March. As the more bullish investors continue to invest in financial and IT names, it would seem that the vast majority of market movers are taking profits off of the table in the industrial sector of the economy. But while the money seems to be rotating out of the early-cycle names that seem to have gotten ahead of themselves, many of which are up considerably from the bottom, I reiterate that there remains significant opportunity in cyclical-aerospace.

Why Industrials Lost Their “Mojo”

Over the length of the past stock market rally, industrial names enjoyed tremendous gains from the March lows. As one of the sectors to bounce back the strongest, many names like 3M (up over 40% from its lows)

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