The Dividend Daily

Buyers were able to make a bit of a dent toward the close, as we finished off the lows of the day on the Dow and did manage to close slightly higher on the Nasdaq and S&P.

Volume finished at 5.48 Billion shares on the NYSE and 2.11 Billion shares over on the NASDAQ. Shares of Burlington Northern (BNI) and Black & Decker (BDK) were up nicely on news that both companies are being acquired in separate transactions. We also saw shares of other railroad plays rallying as well, including CSX Corp (CSX), Union Pacific (UNP), and Norfolk Southern (NSC).

Gold shares ran higher as Gold prices spiked to new 52-week highs, with AngloGold (AU) and Goldcorp (GG) leading the way higher. Other stocks doing well today included, Carbo Ceramics (CRR) and Eaton Crop (ETN). On the flipside, negative analyst comments pushed down several semiconductor plays, including Intel (INTC) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC). Other stocks moving lower included, Merck (MRK), Northern Trust (NTRS) and Capital One Financial (COF).

We made some recommendation changes to our “Best Dividend Stocks” list today, so be sure to check out those premium posts if you did not read the e-mail alerts we sent out earlier.

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