What Drove the Dow Higher Today

Today, industrials editor and analyst Brendan Byrnes discusses the Dow's 58-point gain today. The Dow was the only major index to end the day in the black, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dropping slightly. The Dow was able to shrug off a report that showed weak new-home sales in June with strong earnings from Dow industrial giants Boeing and Caterpillar. Both companies beat expectations and raised earnings guidance for the full year. Outside the Dow, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) reported disappointing earnings last night, with earnings per share and sales of its iPhone coming in below expectations. Check out the following video for more on what drove the Dow and individual stocks today.

Considering the mess that Europe is currently in, there is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty surrounding the market. That may tempt many investors to take their money and run far from stocks, 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 analysis of these companies in our brand-new free report: "The 3 Dow Stocks Dividend Investors Need." Read the report now -- it's absolutely free.