Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): These 10 Stocks Are Outshining the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI)

There was no one big factor to point to for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Indices:.DJI)’s rise this week, except for the continued momentum of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Indices:.DJI) itself. The Dow is hitting new highs as governments around the world take efforts to spur the economy through cutting their interest rates. In U.S. economic news, the weekly unemployment report came in at its lowest level in nearly five years, at 323,000 new claims. The four-week average moved down 6,250 to 336,750 — the lowest level since 2007, and 30,000 less than last year’s average of 360,000-370,000.

U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance data by YCharts.

Movers and shakers
The biggest mover this past week among the Dogs was Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), which rose 4.4%. Yesterday, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, activist investor Carl Icahn said that at some point a merger of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) and Dell might make sense. While acknowledging that the PC is struggling, Icahn said: “We believe the PC business is still extremely attractive for the short-term because it’s necessary. PCs are not going away. Microsoft depends on Dells and Hewlett-Packards.”

While it’s interesting to consider, a merger of the two wouldn’t happen for quite some time, and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ)’s management team would probably opposed it. Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has seen the effects of a large merger before in its disastrous merger with Compaq, so we can only hope the company isn’t tempted to make the same mistake twice.

The article These 10 Stocks Are Outshining the Dow originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Dzombak.

Find Dan Dzombak on Twitter, @DanDzombak, or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. He has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and McDonald’s and owns shares of General Electric, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and McDonald’s.

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