In fact the title of that blog entry was "3 Titanium Stocks = 3 Weak Charts". Now, once the Fed cut 50 basis points a week later, these 3 stocks (Allegheny Technologies, Titanium Metals, RTI International Metals) turned on a dime and broke all technical patterns; so I got bullish again (technically) on September 19th and created a new position in Titanium Metals the next day, along with adding a bit to my ATI.
But the stocks stalled, and I have been blogging how Titanium Metals has not been able to make up its mind, and it had a failed breakout. Well it did indeed break out (again) a few days later, but still not convincingly and today it reversed quite strongly midday - so before I noticed the news about Boeing I cut a bit, taking it down from 1.5% to 1.2% of the fund - nothing major but Titanium Metals (TIE) just is not a stock showing conviction. Then I noticed the weakness in the other 2 related names. Allegheny Technologies is only a 0.50% position in the fund, so nothing major and its stock pattern is actually a lot better than Titanium Metals (TIE). Together these are now about 1.7% of the fund so I am just going to sit pat with them.
In the long run, this is no big deal as these are very long term contracts and the titanium play is a longer term trend, but it could affect short term attitudes towards the stocks and create some artificial weakness - but with this market so overextended I am not in the mood for adding much in term of long exposure. So I am going to let this play out and see how the stocks react in the next few days/weeks. If there is significant weakness this is the type of opportunity one could make to create a nice term long position at a lower entry point, but we shall see - the market might shake it off but in retrospect the inability for any true rallies in these names pointed out the Boeing (BA) "surprise" (which was hinted at numerous times in various publications online!) Much like the refiners news earlier today, not much of this is truly a surprise.
- Boeing Co. is delaying initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner by six months until late next year due to continued challenges in completing assembly of the first airplanes, the company said Wednesday.
- Boeing said deliveries that had been scheduled to begin next May will be pushed back to late November or December 2008.
- The first flight, already pushed back once from the initial target of earlier this fall, now is anticipated around the end of the first quarter of next year
- The company first acknowledged problems meeting the original test-flight schedule in August when it cited ongoing challenges with out-of-sequence production work, including parts shortages, and remaining software and systems integration activities.
- The announcement Wednesday isn't likely to cause such turmoil for a highly anticipated plane that has 710 orders and is sold out through late 2013. Airbus' planned A350 mid-sized widebody aircraft isn't due to hit the market before 2013.
- But analysts cautioned another delay would be more troubling. "Just because the delivery date has been changed, customers are not going to be canceling," said Morningstar analyst Brian Nelson. "It's not as difficult to build as the A380. ... If things extend beyond the six-month delay and we start getting closer to a year, then I start getting worried."
