Why the Dow's Inching Up This Morning

After a big move up yesterday, it's only reasonable to expect the stock market to take a breather. But even while the broad market remains close to unchanged, as worries about tomorrow's U.S. GDP report offset enthusiasm over strong figures on pending home sales, the Dow Jones Industrials (INDEX: ^DJI) were up about 0.3% at 10:45 a.m. EDT.

Dividend hikes have been the name of the game for several Dow stocks. Yesterday, both ExxonMobil (NYS: XOM) and Chevron (NYS: CVX) announced that they would be raising their respective payouts, with Exxon vaulting its dividend 21% higher to $0.57 per share quarterly while Chevron settled for an 11% increase to a quarterly $0.90 per share. Some believe that Exxon could see additional rises in the near future, but for now, Chevron still has a big yield advantage over its larger rival. The two stocks are moving in different directions today, with Exxon down almost 2% while Chevron is up by nearly the same amount.

Boeing (NYS: BA) gave back some of its gains from yesterday, which were fueled by its strong earnings announcement. The company announced that it would buy information-management company Inmedius, which serves several customers in the aerospace industry. The move shows that Boeing is more than just an airplane builder, and bolstering its technology presence should be a positive for the company in the long run.

Lastly, DuPont (NYS: DD) was also down slightly. Rival Dow Chemical saw its profit drop from the year-ago quarter, and although it beat expectations, revenue fell short of analyst hopes. Dow Chemical fell 3% on the news, but DuPont could stand to benefit if it continues to execute well in tapping lucrative trends in the industry.

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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. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Chevron and ExxonMobil. 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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