The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) finished the day up after spending nearly the entire day down, as markets reacted to worse-than-expected unemployment data as well as unchanged GDP data. Some stocks did much better than the Dow as a whole.

Source: Google Finance.

Today's top 3

  1. Today's leader was Alcoa (NYSE: AA), up 2.03% [$0.20] to $10.03. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was second, finishing with a 1.69% increase [$1.76] to end the day at $106.02. Both stocks were yesterday's worst performers, finishing down 2.3% and 3.5% respectively, as durable-goods orders missed expectations and new worries over problems in Europe led investors to dump the stocks. Growing fear in Europe adds to negative global sentiment first sparked last week by purchasing managers' surveys in Asia and Europe, which both forecasted slowing growth. Fool analyst David Lee Smith is bullish on the global economy and believes that Alcoa's future is brighter than you might think and that Caterpillar is stronger than investors give it credit for.
  2. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) took third for the day, up 1.58% [$1.15] to end at $73.81. The company opened a $160 million bottling plant in China, part of its plan to invest $4 billion in the country by 2015. The plant is expected to produce more than 5 billion servings of Coca-Cola products per year. A dominant brand and strong international growth are two reasons why Fool analyst Austin Smith likes Coca-Cola. See the rest of his reasoning.
  3. Bonus! Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) took fourth for the day, up 1.29% [$0.36] to 28.16. This week Intel broke the $28 level for the first time since 2005. Fool analyst Ilan Moscovitz called Intel one of the 10 biggest bargains in the Dow. He believes its scale is a huge competitive advantage that most investors overlook. Read more.

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