Only 3 Dow Stocks Missed Today’s Record-Breaking Rally: Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), The Coca-Cola Company (KO)

Today’s surge has brought the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Indices: .DJI) to a new nominal all-time high, surpassing the mark it reached on Oct. 9, 2007. As of 12:50 p.m. EST, the index is up 142 points, or 1%, to 14,270. Today’s rally has been broad and is showing strength across many sectors — financials, industrials, tech, pharmaceuticals, and materials stocks are all higher. Only three of the Dow’s 30 components weren’t invited to the party.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is barely above breakeven after slipping from an early morning gain, up about 0.1%. The big news about the nation’s largest home-improvement retailer is that a trio of private-equity firms that own the vast majority of Home Depot’s former industrial-distribution subsidiary are now considering taking it public. Home Depot sold most of HD Supply to Bain Capital, Carlyle, and Dubliner & Rice in 2007, retaining a 12.5% stake, after the housing crisis undermined its investment in the business.

This seems like a poor reason to flee Home Depot today, as the two businesses do not have a great deal of overlap. In fact, the IPO is more likely to be a net positive for Home Depot over the long run, whether it chooses to use HD Supply’s IPO as a way to gain liquidity or simply decides to hold shares and collect the (potential) dividends to come.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) also gave up an early-morning gain, down about 0.2%. This appears to be primarily driven by news that Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) will pursue a more competitive international strategy following the reacquisition of its branding rights from Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) . Dr Pepper now has the rights to distribute its Snapple brand in much of Asia and will also be distributing a number of second-tier beverages (Clamato? Really?) in Australia. Coke also brought $2.5 billion in new corporate bonds to market last week, but the terms of that deal were so sweet that investors shouldn’t have taken the news as a bad sign.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is down about half a percent following yesterday’s New York Times report on a major Supreme Court case over generic-drug liability. The drug at issue — sulindac — was manufactured by Mutual Pharmaceutical and is a generic form of Merck’s Clinoril, which has been available for sale since 1978. It’s highly unlikely that Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) will suffer any liability here, but it could see reduced demand for Clinoril as a result of the horrific depiction of one woman’s adverse reaction to the drug.

Enjoy today’s record high, but remember: Adjusted for inflation, the Dow topped out at 15,731 at the peak of the dot-com bubble. We’ve got a way to go yet to truly recapture those glory days.

The article Only 3 Dow Stocks Missed Today’s Record-Breaking Rally originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.

Fool contributor Alex Planes has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola and Home Depot.

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