The day before Thanksgiving saw the averages push higher as
volume slowly disappeared once the afternoon session started
winding down. .
We are starting to hear our first previews of what "Black
Friday" may look like sales-wise, as well as other reports
questioning if Wal-Mart Stores (
WMT
) is "evil" for opening on Thanksgiving. I'll leave that impression
up to my readers, but I do have some comments about the whole
"Black Friday" hoopla below.
As for the markets, we were focusing on earnings plays like
Deere & Co. (
DE
), and Scholastic Corp (
SCHL
) which saw strong selling on their reports. We were also keeping
tabs on how Apple (
AAPL
) traded, and how much of the recent bounce the share price will be
able to maintain. It's mostly a psychological tell for us as we
take the temperature of the markets and whether the
retail/institutional investor will end up drawing lines in the sand
defending their position in the most popular and most widely owned
investment idea on the planet. It was a tough day for shares of St.
Jude Medical (
STJ
) as the company's stock sank 12% on concerns over the company's
recent heart device product.
Sell Call on Former Recommendation
Be sure to check out the
latest update
on a stock we think could be facing some tough headwinds in the
years ahead and why investors may want to use any rallies to ring
the register and move out of the stock.
The Fallacy of Black Friday
As consumers get set to make a break for the stores this Friday
(some will be open Thursday night to help those who may have eaten
a bit too much digest a bit better) and get the "deals of a
lifetime," the reality is the prices seen on Friday will likely be
even better if people wait one extra week and not have to scramble
like lunatics. I get the idea that people love to do the Black
Friday experience because they will save some more money than maybe
they would have otherwise, but if they just stepped back and looked
at the reality of the economics of their decision, they probably
wouldn't spend Thanksgiving worrying about the next event.
In life, we don't get too many chances to be around our extended
family and catch up on how life is outside our own little circle.
That's what holidays are for. Sure, we'll be shaking our heads at
times at what we hear, but it's our family, we expect them to be
all over the map when we don't see people for a long time. Pay no
mind to the media inciting the shopping chaos. They know no better
and are simply pumping up the advertisers that help keep them in
business.
It's a Bull, No It's a Bear, No It's a Bull…
Despite how un-listenable business media can be these days, we
know there are multitudes of investors tuned in looking for
guidance. For investors, perhaps the most important factor is
finding reliable sources of information that help you formulate
your investing strategy. The mainstream business media is loaded
with all sorts of "gurus" - from those who advise on how the
markets will perform in the next 5 hours, to those who specialize
in specific industries or sectors. And then you have the
economists, whose aim is to predict how consumers will be affected
from the recent monetary twists and turns. Throw in anchors that
take it upon themselves to defend every market drop as an
over-reaction, until the selling intensifies and they start asking
the experts if investors should be selling. Tune in several days
later and any rally will be taken as a sign the bull market is
roaring once again. Once the buying goes on for several days, they
will bring on the "how high can these markets" go super-optimists.
The word "manic" can't do this sort of coverage any justice.
If you wind up listening to the wrong guru for your overall
investment strategy, i.e. one who doesn't fit your personal
objectives, you'll undoubtedly be disappointed by your results. The
same concept applies to life in general. Surround yourself with
people who spew shallow opinions with little relevant facts to back
up their take, and sooner or later you will likely become a member
of this traveling band of misguided observers.
Our Dividend.com users are a very hands-on bunch, as we found
out from a recent survey we did on the website. We asked how many
of our subscribers handle their own investments, without the aid of
an investment advisor or full-service broker. An overwhelming 80.5%
indicated they did not use an advisor to help guide their
investments.
Our stance has always been that most people are fully able to
make their own investment decisions, especially when they use the
simple dividend investing strategy we advocate here at
Dividend.com. Of course, that doesn't mean you should never
consider speaking with a financial planner or estate attorney
during times when their particular expertise can be of great
use.
You'd be surprised at how people well people can do for
themselves when they put the right strategy and knowledge into
practice!
An Important Note Regarding the Best Dividend Stocks List
We want to make sure everyone understands that the stocks on our
Best Dividend Stocks List
are the names we currently like for new investor capital,
regardless of what date the stock was first recommended on. If and
when a stock is removed from the list, we will clearly state
whether the stock should be sold (which is rare but occasionally
will happen), or simply held in one's account until we see a better
entry point or catalyst.
And here's one last thing to remember about what we do here at
Dividend.com: it's not just the names that we recommend that can
help you build wealth, but also the things we try to steer you away
from that are just as important. Forget about speculative or penny
stocks, chasing unprofitable IPOs, and listening to the manic
talking heads in the business media!
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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
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.