The Dividend Daily

We are starting to see a pattern in overseas trading that could put U.S. investors in an interesting spot, as our markets try and get their cues from the international action. Europe of late has seen its indices struggle, despite Asian markets continuing to rip higher. The U.S. has been leaning toward growing strength as well, but will the global markets continue to diverge? If not, which way will they lean? This is one of many questions we’re pondering as part of our daily market research.

Getting back to the action in the U.S. markets, earnings results were the central theme today with investors liking the news from names such as Ralph Lauren (RL), Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) (which just raised its dividend), Time Warner (TWX) (also a dividend raiser), and Cummins Inc. (CMI). On the downside, we had selling in names like Aflac (AFL), CME Group (CME), Expedia (EXPE), and C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW).

As always, you can view all the latest important news surrounding dividend stocks at The Dividend Daily.

Lessons from Friday Night Lights

I recently watched the great sports film Friday Night Lights, which is based on the story of a Texas high school football team that carried the spirits of an economically-depressed town. There was also a TV series based on the movie that aired for 5 seasons (I haven’t seen it, but heard it was great also). The movie works really well, as themes like sports, hopes and dreams, and family all intertwine. There’s the dad who lives his past through his son, a family whose economic future is bet almost entirely on their son’s athletic ability, a coach that marries the emotion of being a head coach and father-like figure, and so on.

Without trying to give away too much more of the storyline, one of the more appealing characters of the movie is the star running back who has colleges knocking his door down to recruit him. This player loves looking at brochures of fancy cars, telling his teammates he’s going to be rich. He also doesn’t see the need to practice as much as the rest, which comes along with being heralded as a can’t-miss prospect. As we all know, life sometimes doesn’t go the way we all had planned. Depending on your own situation, maybe there is still time to turn the momentum around and make amazing things happen. The sooner you realize your destiny lies in your own efforts, the closer you’ll be to achieving your dreams.

Anyway, there was a great line the head coach (played by Billy Bob Thornton) used in the movie to reach down into the hearts of his squad. He said, “Perfection is being able to look your friends in the eye and know you did everything you could not to let them down.” For all of us in how we spend our time, whether working, learning, mentoring, motivating, investing, realize we are not solely in this individually, and the actions we take have greater consequences for others around us than we would ever imagine.

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 our ratings system here.