For a long time, it seemed like the stock market was waiting for something exciting to happen. With successive rounds of government and central-bank action, the market definitely got its wish. Now, though, stocks again seem to be treading water, with investors perhaps waiting to see whether all those new policies actually manage to push the economy back into a solid growth trajectory. Just before 10:45 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI -0.11%) were up just eight points, although the broader market was down a bit.
Among Dow stocks, Boeing (BA -2.87%) was down just a dime despite news that the union of Boeing engineers recommended that its members reject the aircraft maker's contract proposal. Moving workers away from traditional pension plans is a common theme these days, but Boeing doesn't have much leverage to impose its will, given the tremendous pressure it's under to get aircraft delivered on time.
Coca-Cola (KO 1.50%) was up more than 1.3% as investors apparently gravitated toward more dependable, defensive stocks. As Fool contributor Eric Volkman observed yesterday, Coke's logo is just another example of its stability, having remained essentially unchanged since the 19th century. The same formula that led to stellar growth in the U.S. during the 20th century is priming global dominance in the 21st.
Finally, Dow oil components ExxonMobil (XOM 0.02%) and Chevron (CVX 0.44%) were both up modestly this morning. Yesterday's volatile trading in the oil futures markets sent prices plunging more than $5 per barrel in the span of just a few minutes, yet oil appears to have stabilized for the moment. With gasoline prices already near record highs for the month of September, the downside of a successful stimulus for the global economy could come from even higher energy demand driving oil upward.
