Political gridlock is always considered the best investment
environment for investors, and we are heading toward another key
election year with balances of power in play that could shape the
next several years of legislation. The resulting governmental
policies could either help (doing nothing is almost always the best
remendy) or hurt (seems like everything Washington wants to do
lately could have lasting negative effects) the economy at
large.
With that in mind, investors should look at their own investing
timelines and particular needs for the years ahead. Your own
personal situation should be the biggest factor in determining
where you place your money as we move ahead. Assess the amount of
risk there is within yours portfolio and whether your own timeframe
for retirement can be delayed or put in jeopardy. Taking excess
risk later in life is an unfortunate reality that many people will
face, having not taken the proper steps in getting a long-term
investing gameplan started.
At Dividend.com, we hope our readers are taking advantage of all
the timely info we publish on a daily basis. Our biggest piece of
advice is always to stay disciplined, and make the proper
adjustments when necessary. Additionally, investors always need to
stay aware of which stocks are worthy of puting new money into,
once you get out of an underperforming position.
One more thing on election years and presidential cycles: they
are just one of many data points out there for investors to chew
on, but again as is the case with most Wall Street-based investment
vantage points, the focus is usually aimed at short-term investors,
or traders in general. Be sure to look through all that, and stay
focused on your personal goals for the YEARS ahead, not just the
next several months.
Looking at today's action, Halliburton (
HAL
) moved higher following the company's earnings results. The news
also helped lift shares of Schlumberger (
SLB
) . Gold-related shares pushed lower as the yellow metal continues
its recent pullback. Names pulling back included Newmont Mining (
NEM
) , Agnico-Eagle Mines (
AEM
) and AngloGold (
AU
) . Semiconductor shares like Broadcom (
BRCM
) and Texas Instruments (
TXN
) were some of the companies helping pace the market's gains.
Volume on today's gains were not impressive with just 4.08 Billion
shares traded on the NYSE and just 1.69 Billion shares traded on
the NASDAQ. Both totals were way below Friday's sell-off
totals.
We had removed a decent amount of dividend-paying stocks from
our watchlist this past weekend as the recent correction added to
the woes of numerous companies we are following. Be sure to check
out our weekend members-only articles for these changes and
more.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.