The Dow Jones Industrial Index (^DJI +1.62%) is taking a beating today, down about 70 points as of 1:50 p.m. EST despite a strong morning session.
But you know what? Wednesday's election-powered market plunge provided my weekly required dose of doom and gloom. Nine of the 30 Dow components are still trading up today, so let's see what's driving some of the biggest trend-beating winners.
At the top of the list, Bank of America (BAC +1.10%) jumped 2.4%. That makes up for some of Wednesday's 7% plunge and appears to be a rebound from overly panic-stricken selling. One analyst firm upgraded the stock this morning, moving the bank paper from "hold" to "buy" with a $12 price target. And it wasn't even a valuation play; ISI Group said the bank has earned this rating based on healthier capital ratios and lower operating costs. Nothing macro about that -- just plain old good business.
Chip maker Intel (INTC 0.28%) took a much-needed breather from a long downward trend by scoring a 0.5% jump. The company just presented a range of updated server-class Itanium chips, but fellow Dow member Hewlett-Packard (HPQ +3.58%) is pretty much the only customer for that lineup. The real reason behind Intel's jump is, paradoxically, a strong report from semiconductor rival Qualcomm (QCOM +15.15%).
Qualcomm beat analyst targets in the just-reported fourth quarter and rose 6% on the news. In the process, it also passed Intel in terms of market cap for the first time:
INTC Market Cap data by YCharts.
Rivalry or not, Qualcomm's strong report shows that there's still life in the computing market. That's why Intel can ride its big peer's coattails today.
