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WSJ: Boeing Considering Production Cuts on Troubled Max

Stocks tumbled on the report, that added the airplane maker could even end production all together.

A pilot waves from the flight deck of a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max airplane prior to a flight Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, at Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Wash. After the first crash of a Boeing 737 Max in 2018, federal safety officials estimated that there could be 15 more fatal crashes of the Max over the next few decades if Boeing didn't fix a critical automated flight-control system, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee said Wednesday during opening remarks at the committee's fifth hearing on the Boeing 737 Max.
A pilot waves from the flight deck of a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max airplane prior to a flight Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, at Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Wash. After the first crash of a Boeing 737 Max in 2018, federal safety officials estimated that there could be 15 more fatal crashes of the Max over the next few decades if Boeing didn't fix a critical automated flight-control system, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee said Wednesday during opening remarks at the committee's fifth hearing on the Boeing 737 Max.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Boeing's stock is down 4% before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 Max or even end production all together.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Boeing’s board was considering its options in meetings that began over the weekend and are continuing Monday. The newspaper, citing people it did not identify, said management is increasingly seeing production cuts as a viable option.

The shift, according to the Journal, took place after U.S. regulators told the manufacturer that its timetable for the return of the Max was unrealistic.

Boeing had no immediate comment, but stuck to its previous stance that it continues to work with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and global regulators on the Max, which was grounded in March after deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people.

Shares of Boeing Co., based in Chicago, are down 10% over the past 3 months.

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