The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) ended its five-day losing streak today, finishing up 89 points, or 0.70%, to rebound from its biggest loss of the year yesterday. The index was helped up by decreasing Spanish and Italian bond yields and hope that the European Central bank could possibly intervene and purchase bonds to ease stress in Spain.

Here are the Dow's top three gainers today:

Company

Percent Change Today
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) 6.22
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) 3.75
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) 2.44

Perhaps the main reason for the Dow's solid day was earnings from Alcoa. The aluminum giant reported after the closing bell yesterday and posted earnings of $0.09 per share, significantly higher than the $0.04 loss that analysts had expected. Alcoa also posted increased revenue of $6 billion, above the $5.77 billion that analysts were expecting. The company is considered a bellwether of the overall economy, because its aluminum is used in products that span all industries, everything from cars to planes to soda cans. Alcoa also reported solid growth in China and reaffirmed its forecast of 7% global growth in 2012.

Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase round out the top gainers on the day. As large banks, these companies are particularly sensitive to the overall economy. Bank of America in particular illustrated the point, as the company has dropped more than 10% just in the past five days before today, and more than 4% yesterday alone. But today's positive news helped drive the stock up 3.75%, and the company's share price has now appreciated almost 60% in 2012 alone.

Outside the Dow, Internet media company Travelzoo (Nasdaq: TZOO) surged a whopping 28% on the day after news broke that it has sought an advisor for a possible sale of the company. The company boasts 24 million subscribers and could be attractive for companies looking for a presence in the high-end Internet-deals segment. Names already being thrown around as potential buyers are tech giants Google and Amazon.com, both of which are trying to increase their presence in the space.

The big picture
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