CHICAGO—

Boeing is delaying initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner by six months 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 2008.

Boeing said the postponement will not materially affect its earnings or guidance for next year.

“We are disappointed over the schedule changes that we are announcing today,” said Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney. “Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it.”

McNerney had publicly voiced confidence as recently as four weeks ago that the airplane maker would be able to deliver the first 787 on time next May to Japan’s All Nippon Airways, despite skepticism among industry observers following the first postponement.

On Sept. 5, Boeing formally pushed back the first test flight to mid-November or mid-December due to complications with final assembly and finalizing flight-control software. That would have left the company just five to six months before the first delivery, or about half the time it took to test the 777 a decade ago.

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.

Boeing shares, which had moved higher Wednesday before the late-morning announcement, quickly tumbled $2.95, or 2.9%, to $98.50 in midday trading.

The racial unrest in Jena, Louisiana, prompted by the hanging by white pupils of three nooses from a tree in the school playground has sparked a spate of similar incidents across America.

At least 10 cases have been reported in recent weeks of nooses being found in public buildings in chilling reminders of the country’s deep-seated racial tensions.

In one case a noose was left dangling from the door of a black professor at Columbia University’s teachers’ college in New York. The professor, Madonna Constantine, a specialist in psychology and education, has written a book on race equality called Addressing Racism. Officers from the New York police hate crimes task force are investigating.

Susan Furhrman, the college president, said she deplored this “hateful act, which violates every … societal norm.”

The unrest in Jena culminated with a fight in the school after which six black teenagers, the so-called Jena six, were initially charged with attempted murder. The white pupils who put up the nooses were merely suspended for a few days.

One copycat case occurred last month on the day of a huge rally of black Americans in Jena in support of the six. After the rally, a red truck was spotted driving through nearby Alexandria with a red noose hanging from the back.

Among other incidents recently, a noose was found hanging from a store being built in Chicago; a student drove into his high school in Chicago with a noose hanging from his rearview mirror; a noose was found in a police locker room in Long Island, New York; and a woman was arrested in Queens, New York, for flashing a noose at her black neighbours and threatening to kill their children.

(10-10) 09:47 PDT NEW YORK, (AP) —

Wall Street stumbled through a lopsided session Wednesday as profit warnings and news of manufacturing delays from Boeing Co. dragged down the Dow Jones industrial average but largely spared technology stocks.

While a retrenchment might be expected after sharp gains seen Wednesday Д the Dow and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished at new highs Д investors turned some of their attention from broader economic concerns to corporate news of the day. Declines by Dow components Boeing and Alcoa Inc. hurt the 30-stock index. Meanwhile, International Paper Co. and Chevron Corp. moved lower on profit news.

With investors thumbing through fresh quarterly results and company news, new economic data did little to dislodge the market’s blue chip versus tech stock dichotomy Wednesday. A report showed inventories among U.S. wholesalers ticked up in August, while a trade group for real estate agents warned the drop in sales of existing homes this year will be steeper than had been expected.

The stock market’s uneven but relatively calm trading Wednesday follows a surge that accompanied the release of minutes from the Fed’s last meeting. Wall Street was initially ebullient that the Fed didn’t appear to rule out further rate cuts, but on reflection, some investors seemed to be questioning whether that response was a little too optimistic.

“People are looking backward at what the Fed was discussing to try and discern whether or not we’re in a recession,” said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “Looking in the rearview mirror isn’t going to give us that clarity because its history, so instead I’m really looking forward to what corporate earnings will show.”

In midday trading, the Dow fell 104.21, or 0.74 percent, to 14,060.32 after rising 120 points on Tuesday.

Broader stock indicators traded mixed. The S&P 500 fell 5.75, or 0.37 percent, to 1,559.40, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 0.98, or 0.03 percent, to 2,804.89.

Bonds rose as stocks declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.63 percent from 4.65 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell 31 cents to $79.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Energy Department’s forecast for winter demand helped support prices, but investors were still concerned that a warm winter could take futures lower.

In economic news, the inventories among U.S. wholesalers rose by 0.1 percent in August, below the 0.03 percent that had been expected, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The National Association of Realtors issued its eighth straight downwardly revised forecast, predicting U.S. existing home sales will come in 10.8 percent lower than last year.

Investors are trying to determine whether the Fed will make a move when it meets Oct. 30-31. Last month’s decision to lower short-term interest rates by a larger-than-expected half percentage point helped stoke a recovery in stocks that had been hurt by concerns about tight access to credit and an economic slowdown.

In corporate news, Boeing fell $3.10, or 3.1 percent, to $98.35 after announcing it was delaying initial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft by six months. The company cited challenges in finishing assembly of the first airplanes.

Alcoa posted a 3 percent profit increase as revenue fell. But excluding a boost to its bottom line from the sale of a stake in a Chinese aluminum company, the aluminum producer’s results fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Alcoa fell $1.26, or 3.2 percent, to $38.49.

International Paper lowered its projection for how much it expects to take in from sales of land in the third quarter, news that sent shares falling 76 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $36.30.

Chevron fell $1.89, or 2.1 percent, to $90.92 after the company warned that its third-quarter profit will come in well below the $5.4 billion it earned in the second quarter.

However, Wall Street also received upbeat news from companies including Costco Wholesale Corp., which reported better-than-expected results. Shares of the retailer rose $5.26, or 8.3 percent, to $68.70.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 508.6 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.22, or 0.38 percent, to 842.50.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.10 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.27 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.08 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.40 percent.

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