Boeing (NYSE: BA) is on track for its worst week in two years, and with so much political uncertainty surrounding trade policy, more pain could be ahead, according to one long-time market watcher.
Boris Schlossberg of BK Asset Management says, "The question is really not economic. It's political at this point."
Boeing shares have been weighed down by a potential trade war between President Donald Trump and China. A proposed trade package imposing tariffs on $60 billion worth of China-made goods could spark retaliation from the world's second-largest economy.
Schlossberg said "Boeing does business with a lot of governments across the world, and if the U.S. policy now is going to be combative instead of conciliatory against everybody in the world, it's going to make Boeing's business much more difficult.”
The largest aerospace company in the U.S. announced last year a $37-billion order for planes from China and the potential for $1 trillion worth of aircraft over the next two decades. More than half of its total sales come from outside the U.S.
The Chicago-based company's stock has lost more than 9% since tariff talk surfaced this month. Those losses have intensified this week with shares briefly falling into a correction on Wednesday. Its stock ended the session down 8% from a 52-week high set earlier in March, close to the 10% threshold indicative of a correction.
Boeing stock began Thursday morning at $324.44, down $6.04, or 1.8%, to $324.22.
