Why the Dow Soared Today

It turned out to be an incredible day for the markets today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) , rising over 2%, and the Nasdaq gaining 3%. Not surprisingly, positive news out of Europe was the main catalyst for today’s big jump. European leaders agreed to let its rescue fund directly give to troubled banks, which will help the countries avoid increasing their budget deficits. That’s good news for investors, especially considering the low expectations from the summit.

Here’s how the three major U.S. indexes reacted to the news today.

Index	Change	Ending Value
Dow Jones Industrial Average	277.83 [2.20%]	12,880.09
Nasdaq	85.56 [3.00%]	2,935.05
S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC  )	33.12 [2.49%]	1,362.16

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) was the Dow’s biggest gainer on the day, up 5.7%, while fellow mega bank JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) was the biggest loser, and the only Dow stock in the red on the day. That’s strange, as these stocks usually move in tandem, but more bad news about JPMorgan’s trading loss drove shares down. There were two other iconic American companies, Ford (NYSE: F  ) and Nike, that struggled big time today, despite the huge rally for the market. Check out the video below for more on what moved the markets, and what individual stocks were the biggest movers in both directions.

Despite the good news today, there is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty surrounding Europe. That may tempt many investors to take their money and run far from the market. But that can be one of the biggest mistakes investors can make. Some of the most successful stock picks are great dividend stocks purchased at attractive valuations on dips in the market. With that in mind, we've taken an in-depth look at all 30 Dow components and picked out our three favorite Dow dividend stocks that investors can buy right now. You can find the names and analyses of these companies in our brand-new free report: "The 3 Dow Stocks Dividend Investors Need." Read the report now -- it's absolutely free.