Why the Dow's Barely Moving Today

The stock market isn't moving much today, as the good news of stronger consumer confidence ran into bad news from Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD  ) -- the retailer said it would close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores. At 2 p.m., the Dow (INDEX: ^DJI  ) was up 28 points to 12,322, and the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC  ) rose 3 points to 1,269.

Tech stocks put in a strong performance, with both Intel (Nasdaq: INTC  ) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO  ) weighing in with up-moves. Intel looks like the more attractive option to value investors, with a lower earnings multiple and much higher dividend yield. But Cisco, long a growth favorite, also pays a dividend now, and it has done a good job bouncing back from its summer slump.

Most other Dow stocks didn't make big moves in either direction. Oil moved above $101 per barrel, but the impact it had on the Dow was mixed, as Chevron rose not quite half a percent while ExxonMobil gave back some ground with fractional losses. McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) also saw decent gains, rising to another all-time high above $100 per share as investors once again were attracted to the strength of its fast growth and healthy dividends.

On the downside, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) had a bad day, falling more than 1% and giving back some of its gains from last week. Alcoa (NYSE: AA  ) also lost ground as continuing concerns about China dampened demand for commodity and infrastructure plays.

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