The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) was driven today by the belief that some of the uncertainty surrounding the markets will be gone sometime this evening. The Dow now sits at 13,245, up 133 points or 1.02%. The other two major indexes also showed impressive gains today, with the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) moving higher by 11 points or 0.79% and the Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) closing 12 points, or 0.41%, higher.
Only two of the 30 Dow components ended the day in the red -- AT&T (NYSE: T) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), which were down 0.09% and 0.50%, respectively. For the Dow to move 136 points, a few stocks need some big moves, and the three stocks that led the index higher were Boeing (NYSE: BA), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX).
So why are they higher?
Shares of Boeing moved higher today for two reasons. One was that yesterday, investors saw the first domestic flight of the long-awaited 787 Dreamliner. The flight marks a key milestone for the company and proves to investors that the wait has been worth it. The second reason was that the company completed an order with Aeromexico, Mexico's largest airline, for at least 60 737 Max planes. Aeromexico also has the right to purchase an additional 30 planes in the future. The deal is valued at $6 billion. Boeing has now pre-sold 938 Max planes.
The big winner of the day was Hewlett-Packard, which saw shares increase by 2.78% during today's session. Today investors showed the kind of support the struggling PC company hasn't seen a whole lot of this year. Year-to-date, the stock is down more than 44%, and it's the Dow's biggest loser over that timeframe.
Lastly, United Technologies had a strong showing, with its share price increasing 2.66% today. The move higher came after the company announced it had prepaid $1 billion on a $2 billion loan that's due Dec. 31. The loan was taken out on April 24 and used to complete the Goodrich acquisition. While paying $1 billion toward a loan is a big accomplishment, the company still has another $1 billion to pay back by the end of the year and another $23 billion in long-term debt on its balance sheet.
