DD

It's been a long time since the DJIA reflected just America's smokestack economy. But today's economic rebound is being led so far by manufacturers. And if you plot those Dow components as a group, you'll see they're leading the larger pack by far.

Wall Street's consensus sees the S&P 500 tacking on an 11% gain over the next 12 months -- with lots of ups and downs along the way. That has us inclined to play defense, with an eye toward bargain stocks paying generous, sustainable dividends. Here are our top 11 picks for 2011.

The Dow surged nearly 200 points, while inflation fears propelled gold to another record close. The Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose to 53.2 last month from 51.5 in August. Economists had expected the measure to rise to 52.

The first peak week of reports was just what the market ordered, thanks to some beat-and-raise results from Dow blue chips. This week has more big names on tap. And again, jittery investors will be looking closely, especially for revenue growth. [With video]

I'm placing a Hold on shares E.I. du Pont De Nemours (DD), also known as DuPont, first recommended on April 22, 2009 at a price of $27.48. If you bought DD in April, you're up about 20 percent. Look for DD's coatings and color technologies business to begin to recover in 2010, on the U.S./global...

Despite weaker sales across the board, DuPont Co. (DD) today posted stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, thanks to its aggressive cost-cutting and declining prices for its raw materials. The chemical giant reported that its third-quarter net income rose to $409 million, or 45...

The Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates steady and slow its purchase of Treasury bonds sent stocks on a late afternoon roller-coaster ride, as the Dow Jones industrial average dipped, zoomed upward and fell again after the announcement. At the closing bell, the Dow had climbed 120...

The Federal Reserve Board almost certainly won't announce an interest-rate hike at the end of their two-day meeting tomorrow. But, in their own opaque way, give a glimpse of their view of the state of the economy, and that apparently is making investors a bit nervous. The Dow Jones industrial...

Yet another day of better-than-expected quarterly earnings and fresh housing data evidently gave investors confidence that the worst of the recession is in the past, and they responded by pushing the Dow Jones industrial average above 9,000 for the first time since January. AT&T (T), EBay...

Stocks plummeted today as investors worried that companies' second-quarter results, which start trickling out tomorrow, won't be strong enough to justify the big run-up in the equity markets since they bottomed out in March. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 161 points, or 1.9 percent, to close...