Dogs of the Dow

[PoemStone]

Five of 30 blue chips accounted for nearly 80% of the Dow's 415-point gain for the month. Among them, Caterpillar (CAT: 109.12, -1.29, -1.17%) led the charge, lending 140 points and rallying 20.4%. IBM (IBM: 192.60, +0.10, +0.05%), DuPont (DD: 50.89, -0.08, -0.16%), United Technologies (UTX: 78.35, +0.74, +0.95%) and 3M (MMM: 86.71, -0.63, -0.72%) were the other major contributors. Bank of America (BAC: 7.13, +0.06, +0.85%) had the best performance of any of the Dow components, leaping 28.2%, but its low price point meant its point contribution was relatively small.

Verizon Communications (VZ: 37.66, +0.05, +0.13%) and Procter & Gamble (PG: 63.04, -0.17, -0.27%) were the two biggest laggards, each falling more than 5%. Coca-Cola (KO: 67.53, +0.07, +0.10%), Chevron (CVX: 103.12, -0.29, -0.28%) and AT&T (T: 29.41, +0.07, +0.24%) struggled as well.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/31/wall-street-posts-blockbuster-january-performance/?cmpid=NL_CeoNewsbrief_20120131