The Dividend Daily

We definitely saw profit-taking pick up today as managers decide on how they may want to position themselves into the end of the year.

Volume was heavy in today’s sell-off with 6.6 Billion shares traded on the NYSE and 2.76 Billion shares traded on the Nasdaq. We removed two groups of names earlier and we will continue to analyze any other names that we would like to move to the sidelines on. Just a heads up, the more likely names we are targeting are the “aggressive” plays that have a lower dividend yield. There is less protection on the downside if we do undergo a decent-sized correction.

As for today’s market, earnings were a key factor. The bright spots from today’s results included Visa (V), DeVry (DV) and Nutrisystem (NTRI). On the not-so-hot list were the results from SAP (SAP), Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) and Massey Energy (MEE).

The commodity sector saw heavy selling hit shares of Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), U.S. Steel (X), Peabody Energy (BTU) and BHP Billiton (BHP). Where did the money go? How about into shares of AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ), which both traded on the upside. Treasuries (TLT) were higher on the weakness in stocks, while Oil (USO) and Gold (GLD) prices dropped.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.