By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor The Boeing Co. (BA) got some hard won good news yesterday (Wednesday) when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the U.S. Air Force would reopen bidding on a disputed $35 billion contract based on findings of the Government Accountability Office. "I’ve concluded the contract cannot be awarded at present" because of flaws found by the Government Accountability Office, Gates said at a press conference at the Pentagon yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The new bidding process will reexamine eight of Boeing’s complaints that were upheld by the GAO, out of more than 100 concerns it had initially raised, by seeking "revised proposals from the industry," he said. Last month, the Government Accountability Office backed a petition brought by Boeing that the U.S. Air Force altered the auction for a $35 billion ...

By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor The Government Accountability Office backed The Boeing Co.’s (BA) petition that the U.S. Air Force altered the auction for a $35 billion aerial-tanker contract - a bid that went to rivals Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), and in turn, helped push Boeing’s stock down more than 11%. Boeing filed the complaint in early March, claiming that the Air Force misled the company and modified its specifications to accommodate models made by Northrop and Airbus S.A.S. The GAO agreed. “The Air Force conducted misleading and unequal discussions with Boeing by informing Boeing that it had fully satisfied a key performance parameter objective relating to operational utility, but later determined that Boeing had only partially met this objective,” according to the GAO, as reported by MarketWatch. Story continues below…...

The talking heads on CNBC are wondering why oil prices keep going higher. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's why ...Source: Netoilexports.blogspot.comYou can see exports are down year over year while demand keeps rising. And that's why the Saudi agreement to pump more oil isn't calming the markets -- it's too little too late. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar curbed their output by 544,000 barrels a day last year. At the same time, their domestic demand increased by 318,000 barrels a day. So, their net exports dropped by 862,000 barrels.

It would seem that the proposed rise in Saudi production of 200,000 barrels from June to July, on top of the 300,000 bpd rise in May, is not enough to even make up for last year's cut in OPEC exports.

Here is some other news you can use ...

Analyst: Air fares

...