Stocks are taking a breather today following Tuesday's triple-digit rally. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) is down by 22 points, or 0.16%. In the absence of any major economic news, the majority of today's action is taking place at the individual stock level.
Disney (DIS 0.18%) is among the best-performing components on the blue-chip index today. After yesterday's closing bell, the entertainment company reported better-than-expected earnings for the final three months of 2012. For the quarter, the House of Mouse earned $1.4 billion, or $0.77 per share, on $11.3 billion in revenue. While earnings per share came in 3.8% lower on a year-over-year basis, it nevertheless beat the non-GAAP consensus estimate by $0.02 per share.
Diversified conglomerate 3M (MMM -1.05%) is watching its shares ascend after the company raised its first-quarter dividend payout by 8% over 2012, marking the 55th consecutive year in which it has done so. In addition, the board authorized the repurchase of up to $7.5 billion of 3M's outstanding common stock. "These actions reflect both our confidence in 3M's future and our commitment to return significant cash to our shareholders," said CEO Inge Thulin.
Shares of Boeing (BA -2.87%) have bounced back 0.5% today. The aerospace company has been battling an investigation into its new 787 Dreamliner that caused authorities around the world to ground the state-of-the-art aircraft. This morning the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said, "We're probably weeks away from being able to tell people what happened and what needs to be changed."
Meanwhile, shares of Intel (INTC 0.64%) are down more than 1.2%. The chip maker was one of the Dow's worst-performing components last year as concerns about the personal-computer market ravaged companies like Intel, which derives a significant portion of its earnings from PC sales. For an updated take on the state of personal computers, check out my colleague Evan Niu's article "1 Simple Chart That Proves the PC Is Dead."
