As investors celebrated the beginning of the fourth year of the current bull market advance from 2009's lows, the broad stock market decided to take a bit of a breather. Yet, even though most broad market measures were slightly lower, the Dow Jones Industrials (INDEX: ^DJI) bucked the trend. Around 10:45 a.m. EDT, the Dow was up 12 points to 12,934, even as the S&P 500 fell two points to 1,368.

Financial stocks were lower, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) putting in the worst performance among Dow stocks this morning. Given the big advances that both stocks have seen so far in 2012, it's hard to take today's move as a serious warning sign of future trouble. JPMorgan is working with some of its competitors to share costs on compliance and other back-office systems. Meanwhile, AmEx continues its drive toward becoming a major player in the mobile-payments space.

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) fell almost 1% as the equipment maker continued its recent slide on concerns about slower growth in China. Yet, the company is using the Chinese market for another purpose: raising capital. Caterpillar is reportedly making its third offering of bonds denominated in Chinese yuan. Increasingly, these dim sum bonds have become a popular way for companies to tap into Chinese capital sources.

Finally, Disney (NYSE: DIS) rose on news of an analyst upgrade from Janney Capital, with the analyst firm seeing upside potential of around 15% from current levels. Given the huge demand for content that various streaming platforms have generated, Disney should be in the catbird seat to name its price -- or start thinking about its own content-delivery platform.

Keeping you on your toes
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