It's amazing to see the angst a down day or two causes the
financial media. The cavalry of market experts are lined up at the
gate and ready to tell investors that any concerns about the
current economic environment is totally misguided.
Having been a witness to many different market environments, I
can assure you that sometimes bad news is actually bad news. The
key is to lower the noise that comes over the television and figure
out how to maneuver through whatever mess a market can be going
through. One of the concerns we are looking at right now is the
weakness in the Euro. This will certainly have an effect on a good
many S&P 500 companies as well as many dividend names we
follow. You will have noticed we have taken off some big name
companies from our recommended list. The Euro effect is certainly a
key reason for our concerns. We are hoping the potential pullback
will price in the risks and then look to re-initiate some of the
names as recommendations. We are still evaluating the current names
on our list for any further moves we may be considering. At the
same time, we are on the lookout for stocks that could be good
plays to add from our watchlists as well.
Looking at today's action, the markets appeared on the way to
solid gains, but sellers showed up in the early afternoon to change
the day's outcome. Wal-Mart Stores (
WMT
) closed up despite the pullback. On the other hand, retailers TJX
Companies (
TJX
) and Abercrombie & Fitch (
ANF
) were lower following their results. One of the negatives that
stood out today was the action in financial plays. Mastercard (
MA
) , Visa (
V
) , Wells Fargo (
WFC
) and Goldman Sachs (
GS
) were huge underperformers today. There are key reports headed our
was as we continue the trading week. We'll be watching for results
out of Hewlett Packard (
HPQ
) , Target (
TGT
) , and Deere (
DE
) among others. Volume on the NYSE ticked up to 6.17 Billion shares
on the NYSE, while the NASDAQ traded 2.36 Billion shares.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.