With Friday's surge following the release of unemployment and jobs data, you may be surprised to hear the Dow Jones Industrial Average
But just because the Dow was essentially flat doesn't mean all of the individual components were as boring. In fact, there were quite a few that had a huge week.
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
JPMorgan Chase
While it's fun to watch stocks pop and drop over short periods like this, it's no way to invest. Instead, real investors make note of news like this but rarely act on it. Instead, they patiently stalk the best companies out there and buy and hold for market-stomping returns. You can do the same thing with The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012. It's our chief investment officer's highest-conviction pick for this year, and it may be yours, too, after you read more about it.