In Bill Stegman's office on the eastern side of Dallas, the phone is ringing and ringing and ringing again, with only short breaks between callers. It goes on for some 30 minutes, virtually uninterrupted. He says it's been like this for hours.

The powerful and deadly tornadoes that have torn through Granbury, Texas, and Moore, Okla., in the last week are fueling this activity. What these dialers have in common is the hope that Stegman, the owner of storm-shelter installation company American Tornado Master, can keep them from being the next victim. He's been in this business 36 years, and he says he's never seen interest this high.

"Not even back in 1999, when Oklahoma was hit [in] that tremendous outbreak then, was it nearly as furious as it is now," he says.

By 11 a.m. Central time Tuesday, Stegman says he had received more than 100 calls about his rooms on the day. Another 193 emails had arrived in his inbox. On Monday, he got approximately 700 inquiries combined. That was the day

By Marty Wolf

The Dow is having a party and most tech companies aren’t invited.

With the exception of HP (HPQ) – which has led the Dow in 2013 with a 49.3 percent increase – the Dow’s run up to an all-time high of 15,354.40 on May 17th has had little effect on tech companies.

That’s because big companies – like those that make up the Dow – have recovered faster and better from the global recession. Plus, they’ve been the primary beneficiaries of Federal Reserve policy, including low interest rates and improved access to capital.

As of May 17th, the Dow stocks that have gone up most this year are Disney (DIS) (33.7 percent), Boeing (BA) (31.3 percent), Microsoft (MSFT) (30.6 percent) and American Express (AXP) (27.6 percent). Except for Microsoft, these are stocks your grandmother would own to live off dividend income.

This slighting of tech is nothing new. Since April 2000 – when the dotcom bubble burst – most tech stocks have been second-class citizens.

Consider the NASDAQ. While the