Four days, four straight losses. Equity investors have had a rough go of it over the past few days. Today was more of the same. Investors were left out in the cold as they looked to the European Central Bank for strong signals or -- perish the thought -- even action to counter the currency bloc's years-long debt crisis. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged to explore unconventional options to preserve the tenuous currency union, but he came up short on specifics.
Investors were not pleased.
European markets at the center of the crisis plummeted. Spanish and Italian stock markets declined 5.2% and 4.6%, respectively, on the day. Across the Atlantic, U.S. stock indexes fared reasonably better. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
Around the markets
Today's trading action saw its fair share of massive price swings. Shares of market pinata Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
On a more substantive note, shares of local business-media site Yelp
Foolish bottom line
At the end of the day, single-day market swings matter very little. While it's crucial to stay up to date on the goings-on with your holdings, concentrating on finding and buying stocks with the makings of long-term winners more often than not generates a more favorable outcome. The Fool recently identified three Dow stocks that have all the makings of longtime winners in a research note, which you can access for free.