Heading lower today and that isn't unexpected as the Dow fell 89 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were negative.  We are working off the short term overbought condition of the stock indexes.  I would guess that the recently made lows would hold any decline but that is just a guess.  The summation index is still moving in a positive direction.  I feel as though we are simply taking a rest here but I do not expect any huge rally anytime soon either.  GE was off almost a 1/4 on lighter volume.  Nothing new to report here.  Gold fell $7 on the futures as the US dollar posted gains today.  The XAU dropped 3 3/4.  ABX off 3/4, GG fell 1 7/8 and NEM shed 1/3.  Volume was average for the gold shares.  The ABX January calls that I own continue to lose value.  Plenty of time for this trade to work out and I will hold these options at least into December.  However I would like to see the price direction turn around at some point this week.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  A couple of down days to start the week and I would not be surprised if the weakness continued just a bit more.  We could be moving into a sideways trading range but only time will tell on that.  Gold fell a bit today but we are still above the rising trend line that began at the beginning of the month.  I would prefer to see the gold stocks taking the lead here but it hasn't happened yet.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

We are expecting some weakness near term and we got some today as the Dow fell 42 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were negative.  It was a mixed bag though because the NASDAQ actually closed higher on the day.  We were off over 100 points on the Dow during the session.  The summation index is now headed higher.  I still think we will get some more downside at some point this week.  After that, who knows?  Not a lot of data out this week but we will get the 1st revision to the 3rd quarter GDP report.  GE was flat on the day but the volume was pretty good.  We held the 200 day moving average here and that's a positive.  Gold didn't do much today and neither did the US dollar.  The precious metal futures lost a couple of bucks.  The XAU sold off early but only lost 1/3 on the day.  ABX, GG and NEM all lost around 1/3 on light volume.  The gold shares are following the overall market at the moment.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  I'd expect the stock indices to take a rest this week but I could be wrong.  The rally last week was on light volume and that is not a positive going forward.  We do have the end of the month coming up on Friday.  Gold is probably due for some backing and filling as well.  I would like to see the gold shares take the lead here but it hasn't happened yet.  My January ABX calls are still in the red.  We'll keep an eye on the foreign markets overnight and take it from there.   

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of December

  Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the technique during those times.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

Ameren Corp AEE 12/10/2012 5.5% $7.0B

Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ  12/10/2012 4.0% $23.0B

Parkway Properties Inc PKY 12/10/2012 3.4% $549.9M

Public Storage PSA 12/10/2012 3.0% $24.8B

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. BR 12/10/2012 3.2% $2.8B

El Paso Electric Company EE 12/11/2012 3.2% $1.2B

H&R Real Estate Investment Trust HRUFF 12/11/2012 5.4% $4.5B

Mercury General Corporation MCY 12/11/2012 6.2% $2.2B

MDU Resources Group Inc MDU 12/11/2012 3.5% $3.8B

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL 12/11/2012 3.1% $4.4B

Automatic Data Processing ADP 12/12/2012 3.2% $26.7B

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Buying Dividends (Dividend Capture) book 25% Off
Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Dividend Increasers

These are the stocks have announced dividend increases in the last couple weeks.

International Game Technology (IGT) 17% increase

Hormel Foods (HRL) 13.3% increase

York Water Co. (YORW) 3.5% increase

Alaris Royalty Corp. (ALARF) 5% increase

Lancaster Colony Corp. (LANC) 5.6% increase

BD [Becton, Dickinson and Company] (BDX) 10% increase

Montpelier (MRH) 9.5% increase

Cambridge Bancorp (CATC) 5.4% increase

If you like stock lists like this, check out the free lists of various industries of stocks, including chocolate stocks, coffee stocks, beer stocks, ex-dividend stocks, and many more, at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

$20 Million for Two Boxes of Hostess Twinkies

Someone listed $20 million for two boxes of Hostess Twinkies on eBay (EBAY)! (Thanks to Rachel Fox for finding this Twinkies news.) I guess union strikes and company shutdowns can generate a lot of news and end up creating new collectibles.

This listing closed on Black Friday, November 23, 2012, and had 51 offers. The sales price was technically $19,999,999.90. These were 13.5 ounce Golden Sponge Cake Cream Filling Cakes with ten Twinkies per box. One half the proceeds to be donated to the local children's hospital according to the listing.

Full Disclosure: Author of the article has never eaten a Twinkie and has no plans to do so in the near future.

It was a very interesting half session today as the Dow roared ahead by 172 points.  The advance/declines were 5 to 1 positive and the volume was extremely light.  Not your typical holiday half session plodding along.  It was however, a very light volume levitation all week.  Not to be trusted in my opinion.  I would not be surprised by some type of pull back early next week.  I would expect it.  GE was up 1/3 and the volume wasn't too bad.  Perhaps that bodes well for the overall market here.  That's a guess as usual.  No trades in GE for now.  Gold had a decent day as well on a weaker US dollar.  Perhaps there will be some good news out of Europe soon.  That could be what the dollar is signaling.  At any rate, the precious metal futures were up over $20.  The gold shares lagged again though as the XAU only gained 3 points.  ABX, GG and NEM all had fractional gains on very light volume.  My January ABX calls are still in the red but by not as much.  I'll be holding on to this position at least into next month barring a catastrophe.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  A nice upside week for the stock indices but the volume was anemic.  It's hard to trust light volume rallies.  But who knows?  Maybe this is the beginning of something sustained for the bulls.  I think the jury is still out though.  I'm not looking for a good year for the overall stock market next year but I'm wrong as much or more than I'm right lately.  Gold has started to move higher, perhaps back to the resistance at $1800.  I need to see the gold shares take the lead here though, for the ABX trade to work out.  Plenty of time for that trade but there is the possibility that we'll see plenty of end of the year tax loss selling there.  Just a guess as usual.  It's a holiday weekend as time to put the markets aside for a while.  We'll get back to it Monday morning. 

A drift higher as the Dow gained 48 points on holiday light volume.  The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive.  The summation index should now be moving higher.  Not much to make of todays action.  You have to simply sit tight and wait for next week for the markets direction.  We are getting short term overbought on some technical indicators but not all.  GE was flat and the volume was light.  It is again the same wait around type of action.  We'll see more of the same on Friday.  Gold was up about $5 on the futures as the US dollar didn't do much today.  The XAU gained 2 1/3.  ABX, GG and NEM were all up around 1/2 and the volume was light.  The gold shares did better than the metal today but you can't read much into that during a week like this.  My ABX January calls are still in the red.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  It is looking like a positive week for the stock indices but the volume is light.  So I would expect some negative action perhaps sometime early next week.  I'm not saying that we are going to fall apart or anything like that but we are not going to go up in a straight line.  Gold has held up OK this week but I'd like to see another run at $1800 soon.  I'll be holding on to the ABX January calls into December and then we'll see where things go from there.  Enjoy the holiday.