Defensive Investors are defined as investors who are not able or willing to do substantial research into individual investments, and therefore need to select only the companies that present the least amount of risk.

Neither of the two companies looks like a bad investment right here, both could produce high-single digits annual returns going forward.

I wanted to find the 5 large cap stocks that had the most consistent upward momentum this past month.

LOW, the second largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. after Home Depot, reported results for the third quarter before today’s opening bell. TGT reported results this morning also. Initially expected to be one of the dogs among the retailers,

Driven by increased spending on home improvement, especially remodeling and big ticket items, Lowe’s Companies Inc. posted strong results for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 wherein both top and bottom lines surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ14 +0.04%) this morning are down -0.05% ahead of the minutes of the Oct 28-29 FOMC meeting, while European stocks are up +0.24% at a 1-1/2 week high as health-care stocks gained on speculation of increased M&A activity.