MetalPrices reports titanium ingot off just a bit to where it was two weeks ago, at its new low - - about $8.50/lb:

http://www.metalprices.com/pubcharts/Pub...

The small (roughly $0.10/lb) blip back up two weeks ago was apparently . . . a blip. Perhaps like what happened back around April: titanium ingot's slid another 21% since then; it's off about 38% in the last year.

TIE's apparent dumping of Melt product in Q3 (at prices off 20% from Q2), and its present inventory approaching $100 Million above what's appropriate for its Q3 level of sales, don't bode well for pricing in coming months.

Admittedly, this is only guessing. But that's what it's all about now - - guessing where the bottom is. Well, and whether Boeing and Airbus can maintain their present line rates - - that's the real biggie.

In the nearterm, we'll have 787 First Flight (maybe !), with a repeat of chatter about (eventually) soaring titanium demand. But beyond that, it's tenuous in the intermediate term.

Disclosure: I'm afraid to short against the upcoming 787 news - - but I'm also afraid the overall market is overpriced (suggesting particular risk for the high-beta titanium stocks), and the outlook for 2010 is dismal - - so I'm sitting on my hands for now, with no position in the titanium stocks.

Good luck to both longs and shorts.