For the third straight day, the stock market opened without any clear direction. On one hand, the European crisis seems to have entered at least a temporary quiet period, removing one of the biggest contributors of downward pressure on the market. Yet plenty of economic worries persist, with the latest unhappy news coming from the Philadelphia Fed survey, and the uncertainty of the presidential election in less than three months has investors on edge. Just before 10:45 a.m. EDT, though, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) finally picked up some steam and was up 33 points.

Among Dow stocks, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) was the big loser, down 3.5% after its quarterly report disappointed investors. Although earnings and same-store sales gains beat analyst expectations, revenue came in below projections, and lower operating margins have shareholders concerned about the quality of its earnings going forward. Still, after a long run higher, even a significant decline like today's may only be a short-term correction.

On the other side of the spectrum was Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), which soared almost 8%. The company beat earnings estimates by a penny, but more importantly, investors seem to have more confidence in CEO John Chambers and his strategies to streamline operations and cut prices in an effort to fight back against competitors Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) and others. Although Europe will continue to represent a challenge, Cisco also boosted its dividend by 75%.

Finally, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) rose almost 1% to set another new high going back to 2000. Building from its own earnings beat earlier this week, the home improvement giant looks poised to benefit from increasing signs of health in the housing market. Those calls have proven premature before, but Home Depot has continued to execute well and has shareholders confident about its future prospects.

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