The market opened with a rather nice spike this morning, but
sellers took some of the shine off the early rally, but not enough
to keep the indices from closing in the green. Investors are
certainly awaiting the latest headlines out of Europe concerning
the Italian financial situation. If the EU wants to take a page out
of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's book, then I'd expect
some chatter about liquidity creation (printing euros to stave off
the current market crisis).
Looking at today's biggest market movers, earnings results were
a catalyst for higher prices in some names. Investors cheered
results from the likes of Cisco Systems (
CSCO
), Advance Auto Parts (
AAP
), and Kohl's (
KSS
).
Elsewhere, a Wall Street analyst upgrade had shares of Eastman
Chemical (
EMN
) gaining for the session. Shares of Merck (
MRK
) moved higher following news of the company's first dividend hike
since 2004. While the yield becomes more attractive, one of our
concerns are falling analyst estimates for the company. There are
also concerns about the drug giant's pipeline, which is a big
reason why the stock is down 19% over the last 5 years. Buying
"value" is not as simple as it appears, and we continue to dig
deeper into MRK and other pharmaceutical plays that sport an
attractive yield, but again, have questionable drug pipeline
growth.
Looking Through a Microscope
We continue to focus as deeply as possible for potential new
candidates to add to our
Best Dividend Stocks List
. There are plenty of potential prospects currently on our radar,
so be assured we will send out an e-mail alert if and when new
names are slated to become recommendations - or current names need
be put to the side. We'll keep all our
Dividend.com Premium
subscribers posted.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
According to data released from the Census Bureau last week, the
number of adult children who live with their parents has soared
since the economy started heading south. Among males aged 25 to 34,
19% live with their parents today, a 5 percentage point increase
from 2005. As for women, 10% of that age group live at home, up
from 8% six years ago.
Another recent study, this time from the Project on Student
Debt, shows college seniors who graduated with student loans in
2010 owed an average of $25,250. This is the highest level ever
recorded and a 5% increase from the previous year. When you factor
the recent unemployment rate for new college graduates hovers at
9.1%, it's not a surprise to see kids flocking back home in droves.
The news won't get any better next year, as starting in July, 2012,
new federal graduate school loans will no longer be subsidized.
The long-term impact of this trend remains to be seen. We may
see couples postpone marriage until later in life, or we may see
the next generation reluctant to purchase a home for their new
family. People struggling to find their career niche are less
likely to have a desire to add a mortgage on their shoulders,
considering some will already have sizable student loan debt to
contend with.
Kids moving back home after college certainly adds a strain to
parents who'd been hoping to build their retirement nest egg. It's
also a let-down for many who wanted to see their children be able
to establish themselves professionally and venture out successfully
on their own.
Maintaining your financial sanity is essential in these types of
situations. It's imperative to stick to your guns in terms of
budgeting and the contributions you expect your children to make to
the household (financial or otherwise) should they move back home.
Deep in our hearts we'd love to see our kids around us as much as
we can, but there comes a time when they need to fly on their own.
Some of us have been there already, and some will get there sooner
or later. Regardless, it's better to embrace and teach good money
habits early and often.
New Watchlist Article Out Today
Be sure to check out our weekly
Top 50 High-Yield Watchlist Names
post that is out today, only for
Dividend.com Premium members
.
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
.