Stephanie Grimmett says Boeing (NYSE:BA) could be at risk in the short term. Its machinist union has gone on strike because of a dispute over pay. The last time machinist contracts were up for negotiation a month-long strike cost the company a ton of cash.

Stephanie Grimmett in Today’s Financial News says it could be time to get into the paper market. A new accord for containerboard prices could mean earnings triple at Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (NASDAQ:SSCC). This stock has already spiked 23% in one day. Stephanie says buying SSCC at below $6 could mean 30% gains over the next six months.

Andrew Gordon says there is potential for a resurgence in Chinese energy demand as factories get back to work following the Olympics. But Stephanie Grimmett in Today’s Financial News says China stockpiled too much gas and diesel before the games and will not be importing fuel in the next month. This should keep crude oil prices subdued. It also creates a profit opportunity in oil refinery stocks…

Saudi Arabia is going to allow foreign investors onto its stock exchange. The new rule is designed to bring foreign money into the Saudi economy. But foreign investors will have to buy through a licensed intermediary, who would technically be the owner of the shares. Stephanie Grimmet in Today’s Financial News says she won’t be rushing in to invest quite yet…

Unmanned aircraft producer AeroVironment (AVAV:NASDAQ) is now the only company with a nano-sized plane in development, at least as far as DARPA is concerned.

Halifax Bank of Scotland (LON:HBOS) is in trouble. In case you haven’t been paying attention to Britain’s markets, the US has exported its real estate collapse and credit crisis to the Britain. And now the country’s largest mortgage lender is groping for anything to prop itself up.

So far HBOS has posted nearly GBP£4 billion (about $7.95 billion) in writedowns from the Britain’s failing real estate market. And in lieu of selling chunks of itself to foreign banks to bring capital back into the company, HBOS’s shareholders just voted today to issue 1.5 billion new shares in a rights sale next month.

With the IPO market in Asia just as lackluster as it’s been in the U.S. this year, investors were as pleased as punch that any company as healthy and growth-oriented as Little Sheep was going public. It was a small IPO, but it was enough to get the fellas in Hong Kong excited.