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Market Wrap-Up for July 24 (AAPL, BTU, UPS, SPG, LMT, more)

By Dividend.com July 24, 2012, 04:49:54 PM EDT

News of a Moody's debt downgrade for Germany put hopes of a Tuesday turnaround on hold. Earnings misses and cautious guidance from several well-recognized names also put a damper on economic rebound chatter. We did finish off the worst levels following a late-day rumor of further Federal Reserve stimulus action.

Starting with the positives, earnings results from Ryder ( R ), Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), and Simon Property Group ( SPG ) had investors seeing green. SPG also raised their dividend payout , but as is the case with many REITs we follow, the overall dividend yield is under 3% and not as attractive as we would like for new entry points. As for the tougher earnings news, earnings misses and cautious guidance hurt shares of United Parcel Service ( UPS ), Peabody Energy ( BTU ), Illinois Tool Works ( ITW ), DeVry ( DV ), and Lexmark International ( LXK ). Also, after the bell Apple ( AAPL ) reported a big miss and not-so-good guidance, so we'll see how nervous the fundamentals crowd gets on the news.

Being Born on Third Base

I had a little chuckle this morning after seeing a tweet regarding Donald Trump's recent appearance on CNBC. The tweeter mentioned Donald Trump was giving advice on how to hit a proverbial "triple" in the investing world, and the tweeter mentioned how Mr. Trump was born on third base. Of course, the commentator was referring to Mr. Trump's rich family legacy in the real estate world (his father was a wealthy magnate before him). Anyway, even if Mr. Trump was born on third base and thought he hit a triple, there's something to be said about being able to maintain and grow your family's fortunes.

We can't deny Mr. Trump's ability to "go big" in most everything he does. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but the point is, he's never going to be content to fall to the bottom of the pack in any industry he gets involved in. He rode the real estate cycles up and got hurt some when they went down. But bounced back from the down times and rebuilt his empire, eventually spreading his brand over other verticals. Like him or not, you can't argue that he is well-recognized and well-respected when it comes to the world of business.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is an example of someone who primarily built his fortune himself, from the ground up. Mr. Slim was an investor in stocks at an early age, but then diversified into buying businesses. I often talk about the entrepreneurial spirit and how it can contribute to an acceleration of one's success, as long as the approach to business is done with the proper due diligence. When you look at the generations past regarding the Slim family, his father was able to build the foundation, but Slim himself catapulted the family's fortunes to untold heights. There was really little help from the previous generation in terms of the amount of wealth Slim was born into.

Point being, every one of us has the ability to build the foundation for our future family generations, and it doesn't take a lot of money to get this process under way. Having more money to start with doesn't hurt of course, but it's not as much of an obstacle as you'd think.

Almost none of us are born rich. The process of building on early small successes and turning them into big successes is what's truly valuable. Many of our readers taken my "take charge of your own financial destiny" to heart, and it's great to hear your own success stories. I applaud you for that, and for understanding that investing does not have to be complicated. Your success stories make me feel really good about what we do here at Dividend.com. Everyone has the ability to generate wealth, and following our strategy will allow you to get the power of compound interest behind you!

Dividend Stock Removed from Recommended List

We removed another dividend stock from our Best Dividend Stocks List this morning. We still like the name, but would wait to add new money to the shares for now. Check out the name we downgraded along with a full explanation here .

Income, Income, Income

At Dividend.com, we maintain our focus on the best income-producing investments the markets have to offer during time of heightened volatility. We want to make sure we have only the most pullback-resistant names on our Best Dividend Stocks List . Also, if we see the market putting in what looks like a decent bottom, we will be prepared to scale up the list of stocks we like. Stay tuned and be sure to look for Dividend.com Premium member alerts along the way. Don't count on the government or your employer to set you up for a remarkable retirement. Take control, do your own research, and achieve your goals yourself!

Go Beyond This Newsletter

We know many of you enjoy reading the daily newsletter, but remember that with our Dividend.com Premium service, the newsletter is just one small component of what we offer. Here are the "Big Three" benefits of our Premium service:

- The Best Dividend Stocks List is used by tens of thousands of investors to help build their own portfolios.

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We don't ask for a credit card to use our free trial, and we don't bill you when your trial ends. No obligation whatsoever! So keep enjoying the newsletter, but please give Dividend.com Premium a shot if you haven't already subscribed!

Thanks for reading everybody. I'll see you tomorrow!

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .




The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.


This article appears in: Investing, Stocks

Referenced Stocks: AAPL, BTU, DV, ITW, LMT



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