WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s (BA.N) decision to stop production of its best-selling 737 MAX aircraft involved in two fatal crashes will impact U.S. economic growth and employment, but the pain may be brief and concentrated in areas where suppliers are located, analysts and executives say.
The biggest assembly-line halt in more than two decades at Boeing could cut first quarter 2020 gross domestic product growth by at least half a percentage point, economists estimated on Tuesday. The hit to GDP growth would come from a smaller inventory build.
Boeing holds unique sway in the U.S. economy as the largest U.S. goods exporter and also as the largest weight in the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI, the blue chip stock index tracked worldwide as a bellwether of wealth creation.