This week, investors looked past the troubles in Cyprus and potential dangers throughout Europe and bid up stock markets once again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.07%) was up 0.46% for the week and the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.21%) rose 0.79%, reaching an all-time high. Here are the top three stocks on the Dow.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH 1.04%) was up 5%, partly driven by speculation that Medicare Advantage cuts may not be as severe as expected. On Monday, the government will release details for the plans run by private insurance companies, like UnitedHealth, and the impact could be significant. The previous cut was proposed at 2.3%, which may lead companies to cut programs altogether.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 0.74%) rose 3.5% on hope for a rebound in PC sales. Buried in Tuesday's durable-goods report was a 2.5% jump in PC sales, a turnaround from late in 2012. PC sales aren't HP's entire business, but they're a key to the company's turnaround, and this data point was a positive for the company this week.
Rounding out the top three is Intel (INTC +2.63%), which was up 2.3%. The PC data that drove HP has also helped Intel. The company has been making efforts to expand its business to mobile and even acting as a foundry in some cases, but PCs still drive Intel's results. As with HP, Intel needs to move beyond the PC to be successful long-term but a slower decline of the PC market would ease the transition process.
