New York, February 6, 2026, 15:02 (ET) — Regular session
- Boeing shares climbed during late-afternoon trading in New York.
- Traders zeroed in on new order chatter linked to India’s trade agreement, along with word of talks out of Saudi Arabia.
- Supply snags are still holding things up, with delivery speed as the major bottleneck.
Boeing picked up 2.6% to close at $243.12 in late Friday trading, brushing up against the session high after fresh order news from India and Saudi Arabia. Shares moved between $236.70 and $246.19 throughout the day.
Boeing’s commercial operation is tied to long lead times, so all this talk has real weight. Major orders lock up years on the production line, letting suppliers map out their steps and, crucially, opening the door for Boeing to crank up rates—provided it can actually deliver.
Here’s the rub: Investors largely view demand as less of an issue. The real test is in deliveries. Backlog only becomes cash, and trust, once those planes actually leave the lot.
India and the U.S. are closing in on a formal trade agreement, with trade minister Piyush Goyal telling reporters that the deal is expected to be signed in March. Goyal pointed to upcoming purchases from Boeing, saying India will buy $70–80 billion worth of aircraft over a five-year span. Counting engines, parts, and already placed orders, the total value climbs to about $100 billion. “A joint statement on this trade deal will be issued in the next four or five days,” he said. 1
Saudi Arabia’s main airline, Saudia, has started preliminary discussions with Boeing and Airbus about a potential purchase of at least 150 aircraft, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the Bloomberg report. 2
This combination — trade-driven buying alongside negotiations over airline fleets — is exactly the kind of demand Boeing is looking for, particularly across its single-aisle and twin-aisle offerings. Single-aisle jets, or narrowbodies, typically handle shorter flights, while widebody, twin-aisle models are designed for longer international routes.
Boeing faces more than just distant challenges: it’s grappling with execution and cost headaches on its own turf. According to a Reuters report, the company recently informed staff that about 300 engineering positions tied to the 787 program will be relocated from Washington state to South Carolina, where it plans to consolidate the remaining work. Separately, a Boeing defense division is axing roughly 300 non-union supply-chain roles. “Boeing regularly evaluates and adjusts its workforce to stay aligned to our commitments to our customers and communities,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. 3
Supply-chain snags continue to dog the aviation sector every day, threatening to undercut fresh orders by bogging down deliveries. “We are afraid that this new norm will stay, which is completely unacceptable,” said Jeffrey Lam, head of ST Engineering commercial aerospace, speaking with Reuters about ongoing holdups and drawn-out lead times. 4
Next up for investors: waiting to see if the India-U.S. negotiations result in a joint statement in the days ahead, and then a signed deal set for March. As for Saudi talks, the key question is if they solidify into a public order—or just slip back into the standard back-and-forth of airline dealmaking.
