The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.05%) is ending the week on a sleepy note, but don't tell Boeing (BA 0.96%) shareholders that. While the Dow's up six points as of 2:15 p.m. EST and member stocks are fairly evenly split between risers and laggards, Boeing's stock has dropped 3% after yet another round of worries over the new 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Let's dive into what happened this time.
The FAA sends traders panicking
The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped into the arena now, saying it will review the 787 after an aircraft caught fire in Boston, among other recent incidents. That was enough to send investors into another panic, forcing shares to fall yet again. For the week, Boeing's stock is down 3%. In the long term, Boeing -- and the 787 -- will be fine; the FAA has continued to back the plane, with director Michael Huerta saying, "Nothing we've seen would indicate this plane is not safe." There's little reason to believe in any doomsday scenario for Boeing's newest jetliner.
The short-term traders don't seem to be looking at the horizon, but don't let that stop you from investing in a solid stock like Boeing.
In less turbulent areas of the Dow today, the earnings report from Wells Fargo (WFC 1.91%) sent the index's bank stocks tumbling. After Wells Fargo reported that its net margin declined a few tenths of a percent year over year -- and even though Wells Fargo's revenue and earnings beat expectations -- stocks across the financial sector followed it downward. Bank of America (BAC 2.03%) and JPMorgan (JPM 1.47%) rank among the Dow's biggest losers today, with their shares falling 1.8% and 0.4%, respectively.
The bad news isn't over yet for Dow stocks. With PC sales officially on the decline -- IDC reported Thursday that PC sales fell more than 6% year over year in the fourth quarter -- Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 1.88%) has taken a big hit. Already struggling with other problems such as the now-infamous Autonomy fraud case, HP is down another 1.5% thanks to the report.
It's not all bad on the index today. Thanks to gainers like Merck (MRK 1.70%), Microsoft (MSFT 0.58%), and Chevron (CVX 2.42%), which is up 1.1% after it offered an optimistic forecast of its fourth-quarter earnings, the Dow hasn't been hit too hard overall by the aforementioned laggards.
