We had a feeling this morning's monthly unemployment report was
going to be a bit of a stinker, and sure enough, it was a dud.
At this point, we will stick to looking at company fundamentals,
as we approach the current volatility with the same sense of
balance we always do - never too bullish and never too bearish.
That said, be sure to catch the moves made today to our recommended
list to keep abreast of where your money could be best served going
forward. Gold (
GLD
) prices staged their biggest rally in months as some investors
shifted money out of equities. Gold miners also joined the gold
parade, with rallies in names like Newmont Mining (
NEM
) and Goldcorp (
GG
).
Looking at the markets, Wall Street analyst downgrades easily
pushed down several well-recognized names. Those seeing estimates
and ratings cut included Franklin Resources (
BEN
), Hewlett Packard (
HPQ
), McDonald's (
MCD
), and Abercrombie & Fitch (
ANF
).
Two Dividend Stocks Removed from Recommended List
We removed two dividend stocks from our
"Best Dividend Stocks"
list this morning. Please note we recommend selling these stocks if
you own them. Check out the names we downgraded
here
.
"You Can't Teach This Game"
I'm an assistant coach on my son's 9- and 10-year-old baseball
team this season, and I've seen even bigger mood swings at the
baseball field than I've seen with investors this week, if you can
believe it. As a normally positive person, it was a real downer to
hear another assistant coach complain during a recent practice that
you can't teach the game of baseball. His take is that you either
get it or you don't. Great motivator for the youngsters, huh?
Obviously, I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I've seen multiple
kids on our team progress greatly this season.
Unfortunately, a good number of people (including my coaching
colleague) take a negative view of life in general. You'll
continually hear these sort of comments from them:
- "I can never catch a break!"
- "I just have the worst luck."
- "I already know it's not going to work."
- …and so on.
I understand the markets are going through a decent-sized
pullback right now. Although it feels lousy, I can tell you the
2008-2009 market downturn was much worse (don't forget the Dow hit
6,500 in March 2009 - we are currently over 12,000). And guess
what? Dividend investors came out smelling like a rose when the
dust settled. I am not a perma-bull and never have been. Chasing
stocks during a melt-up is more painful from an investment research
standpoint, because the fear is you are buying stocks after they
are already overbought.
How do you avoid the worry and hassle of feeling like a victim?
It's simple. You turn down the volume on the screaming market
"experts" on TV and you go about your business. Take care of your
career, put money to work on a regular basis in the best dividend
stock opportunities, and focus on your family and the things you
love in life.
As in sports, not every single play will be made. Does that mean
you simply shouldn't play the game at all? Of course not, and the
same concept applies to investing. If you stay the course and make
the appropriate changes in your portfolio over time, you'll come
out ahead in the long run. When company fundamentals deteriorate
and industries change, some stocks that used to perform well will
no longer do so. We can't control how companies adapt to these
changes, but we can certainly control whether they remain in our
portfolio.
I firmly believe that maintaining a positive attitude can work
wonders in your investing. Never think of yourself as a victim.
Don't buy into the myth that the markets are against you. Just keep
your chin up and press on!
Keeping Extra Powder Dry and Scaling In
During extended periods of selling, the best approach to putting
money to work is to tighten the belt and get more money available
to pick up quality names when they "go on sale." Also, we always
suggest scaling into positions over time, and not trying to load up
on what you think is the true "bottom" for a stock. No one has ever
sold at the absolute top, or bought at the absolute bottom. Paying
lower prices for quality companies is how dividend investors build
their fortunes. It's as simple as that.
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 have done through the first five months of 2012. 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.
A Look to Next Week and a Weekend Preview
Looking ahead to next week, earnings will continue to slowly
come in , with reports from the likes of Men's Wearhouse (
MW
), Oracle Corp (
ORCL
), and the J.M. Smucker Co. (
SJM
), just to name a few.
Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates this
weekend on
Dividend.com Premium
, including reports on earnings/story stocks, analyst
upgrades/downgrades, dividend ETFs, and much more. And as always,
you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading
Best Dividend Stocks List
.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you this weekend! 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
.