MarketWatch, www.marketwatch.com, sends out a Personal Finance Daily email. On 20May, one of the articles listed 5 dividend stocks which may be safer than treasury bonds. Treasury bonds are paying less that 3% interest, which is taxed at ordinary income rates, and all 5 of these stock are paying more than 4% dividends, which are taxed at the lower capital gain rates. Capital gains, if you are in the 15% or less tax bracket, are taxed at 0%. The stocks are CenturyLink (CTL 5.71%), AT&T (T 5.04%), Altria Group (MO 4.79%), Peoples United Financial (PBCT 4.65%), and Verizon Communications (VZ 4.42%). The same email contained an article about the worst cable company in America – Time Warner Cable. I always thought it was Comcast, but Comcast is really only the second worst cable company in America.
Looking at stock charts of the big movers over time has always shows these big movers making one new high after another. It seems to me that watching new highs could be a way to find winning stocks. I have looked, but failed to find a service which provides that information. If you know of a service which provides that information let me know.
Earlier this month on Chuck Jaffe’s show, MoneyLife, Greg McBride of Bankrate.com discussed High-yield checking. Seems you can get higher interest if you follow some rules. You can check it out at Bankrate.com. I use one of my brokerage accounts as my checking account. Since I have an investment or two in the account and keep an amount in cash, having it a margin account, prevents bounced checks (as long as the check is written for a reasonable amount).
This was a good week in the market. The S&P500 was up about 1.3% and the Nasdaq was up about 2.4%. Both of my funds were up for the week. It is still “Sell in May and go away” time. Next week should be good because it is month end.
IBD TBP’s Current Outlook is “Market in Correction” – not time to invest.
My current investments:
Nordic has a price of 48.22, a sell price 45.81, a relative rank of 03, and is a hold.
SAirTransportation has a price of 64.05, a sell price 60.85, a relative rank of 05, and is a hold.
My portfolio changes this weekend:
IRA #1 – None
IRA #2 – None
My portfolio market exposure after this weekend’s changes:
IRA #1 – 00% invested
IRA #2 – 40% invested