Not a trading day passes when some stocks experience some kind of significant event. These events can have a massive impact on the stocks you own and the health of your portfolio. It can be hard to keep up with it all, and my fellow Fools and I are happy to bring you the latest news. Today, I'll review three events you might have missed on Friday.
Let's first start with Boeing (NYSE: BA ) and the fire at London's Heathrow Airport. Around mid-afternoon, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked in a service area of the airport caught fire. Preliminary reports didn't indicate whether the fire had started in the battery compartment or if it was related to the electrical system at all, but we do know that it wasn't a result of the plane's engines, as General Electric quickly released a statement indicating that it hadn't been caused by the key components GE supplies to Boeing.
You may recall that Dreamliners had been grounded for a number of months following a number of battery-related issues. But did you know that the plane that caught fire on Friday at Heathrow was owned by Ethiopian Airlines? And that the Dreamliners owned by that airline had been the first to be retrofitted by Boeing with equipment to help protect the plane from any further issues with the battery system? These fixes had been approved by the FAA and other regulators around the world before the 787s were permitted to fly.
When the Heathrow news hit the markets, the stock initially fell by more than 7%. Boeing's weight within the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) pulled the index to its lowest point of the day, down 50 points. But as Boeing slowly recovered during the latter part of the day, the Dow managed to close higher by just 3 points.
One story that surely slid under a number of investors' radars was that AT&T (NYSE: T ) made an offer of $15 per share, or just under $1.2 billion, to buy Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP ) . The report wasn't released until after the regular trading day ended on Friday. Shares of AT&T ended the after-hours session flat, at $35.81, but Leap's shares rose an incredible 116.92% to hit $17.31 per share, or a full $2.31 higher than AT&T's offer price. Investors may be betting that this first bid won't ultimately win and that perhaps AT&T or another company will come in with a higher offer. AT&T, for its part, is looking to gain market share in the lower end of the wireless business.
Lastly, we move outside the Dow Jones, as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) announced a new way to hold an earnings release conference call. On July 22, the company plans to stream its earnings conference on its own streaming video service platform for shareholders, investors, and other analysts to watch, while CEO Reed Hastings and other top brass will answer questions from one analyst and one news reporter, as opposed to the traditional format in which a number of analysts get a chance to ask management a question. Shares of the company closed Friday up 5.36% following news of the new format.
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