MAJOR PAPERS:

• Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is expected to beat out The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) for an approximate $1.8B contract to from the U.S. Air Force to build a new generation of navigation satellites, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, former American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg is pressing the troubled insurer to turn the company around. He says that he and other major shareholders have "deep concern about the persistent and seemingly endless destruction of value at AIG."
• Hybrid Capital Second, a Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) investment vehicle, increased its stake in internet start-up Livedoor to 18.15% from 12.76% in March, the Financial Times reported, superseding the company's founder, Takafumi Horie.

OTHER PAPERS:

• After it incurred $3.2B of bad debts in the first three months of the year, the Telegraph reported that Knight Vinke, an HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) shareholder, has renewed calls for the bank to shed its U.S. consumer finance business.

Swing trading is a strategy in which stocks are bought for expected gains in a period of weeks to months, and a leader in this area is Melvin Pasternak.

The editor of Swing Trader says that in the current market environment, his intention is to "go long on stock with positive earnings surprises and strong technicals." One candidate that meets this criteria is Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA).

The advisor explains, "Wall Street had estimated BA would earn $1.16 per share on $16.2 billion in sales. Instead, the aircraft giant made $1.35 per share on $17 billion in revenues. When results were announced, the shares were trading near $104; they subsequently gapped up to near $108."

Pasternak continues, "Although BA was not able to hold its gain given the massive overall market selling pressure, it finished virtually unchanged during last week's decline. In so doing, its relative strength soared. When the market stabilizes, it should be one of the leaders of a recovery rally."

Technically, he states, "BA remains well above its 10-week moving average. It is also above the upward-sloping 30-week, the signature of a stage II advance. Technically, the ADX and MACD remain on strong buy signals."

The technician concludes. "Although the stock has been overbought on measures such as stochastics and RSI for some time, it has been able to continue its advance. I think BA can trade much higher and have set a target of $119.95. I would exit the position if it breaks a mid-June low of $93.58."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.

The battle between Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Airbus continued in the skies over Paris this week -- although I suppose the real battle occurs in plush sales offices and five state restaurants throughout the city. Billions of dollars in aircraft orders are at stake, and the corporate dog-fighting appears to be intense. The most important competition is between Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the A350 made by Airbus. These are roughly similar planes featuring twin engines and single aisles, and both are quieter and more efficient than earlier models. Going in to the Paris Air Show, Boeing had a considerable lead over Airbus in worldwide orders for its plane. As Douglas McIntyre noted earlier on BloggingStocks, as of last week, Boeing had over 600 orders for the 787, compared to a mere 13 for the A350.

Airbus has been in trouble lately, particularly with its new jumbo jet, the A380, which was designed to replace Boeing's 747. While there seems to be considerable interest in the new double-decker plane, the A380 has had so many problems that it isn't clear when it will be ready to fly. So Airbus is pushing the smaller A350 in the meantime. But it hasn't had much luck against the 787, at least until now.

So far, the Paris Air Show has been good to Airbus. According to today's Wall Street Journal [subscription], Airbus booked three large orders for the plane from Russia's Aeroflot, India's Kingfisher Airlines and Libya's Afriqiyah Airways, for a total of nearly 80 planes. This comes after Qatar Airlines' order of another 80 planes earlier in the week. The CEO of Airbus, John Leahy, said that he expected to receive more than 200 orders for the plane this year, and these new orders certainly make that seem like an achievable goal.

But Boeing has also seen some big orders in Paris. It just announced that International Lease Finance Corporation, the largest commercial jet leasing company in the world, has ordered 50 787s for its fleet. This means that the 787 has surpassed the $100 billion mark in orders, and secures Boeing's place as the global leader in commercial aircraft production.

Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) continues to pile up business in the wake of Airbus' A350 woes. Today the Times of London reported that U.S. Airways Group (NYSE:LLC) is canceling its order for 20 of the A350s in favor of 20-30 of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliners. The Airbus order had been valued at $3.7 billion, while the Boeing purchase is estimated at $3.2-$4.9 billion.

Just yesterday, Virgin Airlines announced they intend to purchase as many as 43 Dreamliners, $8 billion worth, to replace their Airbus fleet.

This despite Airbus dropping the price of its A350 by 50% in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. Boeing is thought to be knocking about a third off the price of its Dreamliner.

What Airbus can't match is delivery date. With a two-year delays blamed on wiring and other problems with the new A380, the A350s aren't expected to go into operation until 2013-14, while the first Dreamliner is expected to enter service in May of 2008.