How the Dow's Staying Up Today

Most climbers need to take a break from time to time, but the stock market just keeps on jumping as if nothing can stop it. Even though higher gasoline prices pushed wholesale inflation higher, jobless claims fell back to four-year lows, suggesting that the economy is on a more even keel and may not need further assistance from the Federal Reserve. At around 1:45 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrials (INDEX: ^DJI) were up 36 points to 13,230. The S&P rose six points to 1,400.

Among Dow stocks, Pfizer (NYS: PFE) was unchanged after Germany's Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care said that the company's anti-clotting drug Eliquis had no added benefit for knee surgery patients and little benefit for hip surgery patients when compared to Sanofi's Lovenox. The drug, for which Pfizer has Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYS: BMY) as a partner, is awaiting consideration by the FDA, which earlier this month pushed its target date for making a decision back to June.

Verizon (NYS: VZ) and AT&T (NYS: T) were mixed as the companies await the arrival of Apple's newest iPad. The 4G device has already attracted a lot of pre-order attention, but it'll be interesting to see if the mobile carriers for the 4G iPad can handle the increased traffic demands of the device. If nothing else, the new release should serve as a test run for a future 4G-enabled iPhone, which is likely to tax the networks to a far greater extent.

Keep your perspective
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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Dan Caplinger doesn't own shares of the companies mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter here. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Apple and Pfizer, as well as creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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