November brought us one of the strongest closes to a month in
recent memory. Was the big rally just a bear market bounce, as we
saw in late 2008/early 2009, or was the action a sign of good
things to come? Realistically, we won't know the answer until we
see some sort of follow-up action on decent volume (up or
down).
Today, we observed mostly mixed trading for the indices.
Embattled book retailer Barnes & Noble (
BKS
) got hammered following a poor earnings report and outlook. On the
flipside, retailer Guess? (
GES
) had a bit of a bounce off recent lows, despite
their lackluster earnings results
. Meanwhile, Walt Disney (
DIS
) shares ended the day mostly flat, despite
the company's 50% dividend increase
(which still only puts its yield at a paltry ~1.6%).
We also had the usual "first Thursday of the month" retail sales
figures trickling in. Of the notable moves, Nordstrom Inc. (
JWN
) and Ross Stores (
ROST
) were upside standouts, while Kohl's (
KSS
) did not receive a good reception on their numbers.
Following yesterday's bounce, the financials ended mixed on this
day with Citigroup (
C
) and J.P. Morgan (
JPM
) lacking much of the upside we witnessed yesterday. Again, the
financials are moving mostly on European headlines these days, and
to a lesser extent on any U.S. news.
Over on the commodity side, CF Industries (
CF
) and Cliffs Natural Resources (
CLF
) managed to add on some gains. If you want to know how the
commodity names will ultimately fare, you need not look any further
than China's economic picture. We've seen many of the commodity
sector favorites pull way off their highs, with some even
approaching their 52-week lows.
Lastly, many are expecting gold (
GLD
) prices to resume their move higher with all the new money
printing globally, but so far the move up has been a bit slower
than expected. Gold is, of course, still worth keeping an eye on
for those who may have some exposure in their portfolios. We don't
currently have any gold-related names on our recommended list, as
most have extremely low yields, making them unattractive to
dividend investors.
Timing the Market Will Only Make Your Job Harder
Once again, yesterday's massive rally proved why trying to time
the market is quite often a fruitless endeavor. Everyone knows from
reading my newsletter each day that the best strategy is
consistently putting money to work in the markets month after
month. I know the temptation to avoid paper losses in your
portfolio is tough to ignore, but take it from me, you will only
morph into a day trader when you try and time the markets.
At that point, any goal you have on building long-term wealth
through the beauty of compound interest will be long gone. We
certainly don't advocate taking big losses or holding onto to
losers. That's why you need to develop and stick to a discipline of
making your money work for you. There are already plenty of hurdles
to stop you from building wealth (lower-than-expected salary, bad
spending habits, etc.), so don't step on your own feet when it
comes to investing! There are plenty of great opportunities out
there each and every day.
An Important Note Regarding the Best Dividend Stocks List
We want to make sure everyone understands that the stocks on our
Best Dividend Stocks List
are the names we currently like for new investor capital,
regardless of what date the stock was first recommended on. If and
when a stock is removed from the list, we will clearly state
whether the stock should be sold (which is rare but occasionally
will happen), or simply held in one's account until we see a better
entry point or catalyst.
And here's one last thing to remember about what we do here at
Dividend.com. It's not just the names that we recommend that can
help you build wealth, but also the things we try to steer you away
from that are just as important. Forget about speculative or penny
stocks, chasing unprofitable IPOs, and listening to the manic
talking heads in the business media!
Year-to-Date Results Just Posted
Be sure to check out the year-to-date watchlist posts up on the
site today. You can see how well many of the dividend stocks we are
tracking are doing through the first eleven months of 2011. As
always, you can find these and other members-only articles on
Dividend.com Premium Articles Page
.
Our
Beat The Markets with Dividend Stocks
eBook Has Arrived!
We just debuted our brand new 275-page eBook, exclusively on
Dividend.com! In this digital-only book, we look ahead to 2012 and
the main factors that could affect dividend investors. A $39.95
value, the eBook is a
free download
for paid
Dividend.com Premium
subscribers.
Beat The Markets with Dividend Stocks
contains a full economic forecast for 2012, including in-depth
analysis on 65 of the biggest dividend stocks out there. It's a
great way to get prepared for your investing next year! So head
over to the
Dividend.com Premium homepage
now to download your copy.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow!
P.S. Please pass this e-mail on to someone you think can use
some financial motivation as well as being kept in the financial
news loop that could affect them.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.