Of the 30 blue chip stocks that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, only two ended the year up. Two. Fast food pioneer McDonald’s was up almost 6% for the year, while discount retailer Walmart gained a whopping 18%. Perhaps the biggest surprise isn’t that these two DJIA companies alone saw their market capitalizations increase last year, but that any did at all.

I’ve been reading a lot about the continued unpredictability of the economy in 2009, and certainly none of us know exactly how things are going to unfold. But the rising fortunes of McDonald’s and Walmart during the worst economy in our lifetimes make the case that some things remain predictable: well-run companies with well-defined brands that offer clear value propositions can still prosper.  As I detail in the book, neither McDonald’s nor Walmart have unblemished records. But they learned from their mistakes and now seem to be sticking to their knitting. Its a good lesson for us all.