Two Big Winners on a Quiet Day for the Dow
Last week was a little rough for the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which pulled back 2.2%. August hasn't been particularly kind to the Dow, but investors have to keep in mind that it's still up about 15% for the year. In today's quiet session, the Dow is trading 41 points lower as of 2:50 p.m. EDT. The story was much the same overseas, as the European markets all traded in the red today, and Asia's Hang Seng fell by 0.2%. Here's a look at two Dow stocks in the green today and what investors can expect this week.
Boeing is one of the Dow's biggest winners today, up 1.5%. Investors were happy to hear that the company has a good chance of winning one of the largest contracts available in the defense market right now. According to unnamed sources quoted by Reuters, Boeing's offer to supply 60 F-15 combat aircraft is the only offer within South Korea's $7.4 billion budget. If Boeing secures the contract, it would be a significant boost to the company's defense division and would amount to nearly half of Boeing's military-aircraft revenue from last year.
Intel is making even bigger gains, up 2.3% after it was upgraded from "underweight" to "neutral" by analysts at Piper Jaffray. While upgrades are welcome news for investors, there's still plenty of doubt about whether the company can survive the decline of the PC market. As PCs continue to wane, Intel's future may depend on its ability to produce chips that can be used in smartphones and tablets.
Outside the Dow today, Ford finds itself trading down 0.9%. This is just a little breather for the Blue Oval after it put up an impressive second-quarter report and went ex-dividend at the end of July. The American automaker is still up nearly 70% over the last 12 months, and it looks ready to improve further, with its Chinese sales continuing to set monthly records and its European losses narrowing.
Looking ahead
Dow component Home Depot will report its second-quarter earnings Tuesday. Analysts expect a jump in Home Depot's top and bottom lines, as well as an increase in comparable-store sales. The company posted a better-than-expected first quarter and then raised its guidance for the rest of the year, betting that the housing-market recovery will continue to boost its sales.
Economic news will be sparse until Wednesday, when the Federal Open Market Committee releases the minutes from its July meeting. Investors will be hoping for clues on when the central bank plans to reduce its $85 billion-per-month asset purchases. According to a survey from Bloomberg last week, 65% of economists believe officials will begin to slow down the asset purchases at their next two-day meeting, which starts Sept. 17.
With the American markets reaching new highs, investors and pundits alike are skeptical about future growth. They shouldn't be. Many global regions are still stuck in neutral, and their resurgence could result in windfall profits for select companies. A recent Motley Fool report, "3 Strong Buys for a Global Economic Recovery," outlines three companies that could take off when the global economy gains steam. Click here to read the full report!
The article Two Big Winners on a Quiet Day for the Dow originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Daniel Miller owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool recommends Ford, Home Depot, and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford and Intel. 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 Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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