Yesterday's big Dow breakout showed just how much investors have looked forward to central bank intervention. Today, though, everyone seems to be waiting for the other half of the one-two punch, as mixed employment data helped build a case for the Federal Reserve stepping in with another round of quantitative easing. Job gains fell below 100,000, and although the unemployment rate fell to 8.1%, the drop owed largely to a decline in job-seeking among the outstanding labor force. Investors therefore went back to wait-and-see mode, with the Dow Jones Industrials
Yet the apparent calm in the overall average masked some huge moves from individual Dow components. Caterpillar
On the flip side, Intel
Finally, Kraft Foods
Never a dull moment
Averages may stay flat, but there's always something going on with individual companies. Intel's move has implications for the company's long-term future. Find out more about how today's news could affect the semiconductor giant in the Fool's new premium research report on Intel, which includes a year of free updates covering all its future news. Click here now to get started.