3:40 pm Est.

The Dow is up 13 points. The Nasdaq is down 11 points. The S&P is down 3 points. Gold closed up $13.70 to $973.70. Oil closed up 10 cents to $145.10. The 10yr. is 3.88%.

Another late day for us with meetings, calls and all that good stuff, but wanted to squeeze in a post for traders. The market looked good this morning on news that the Fed (really us taxpayers-Who are they kidding?) is going to bail out Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). As for other financial institutions, they may be on their own. Be sure to get any assets  that may not be FDIC-insured into the proper accounts. The drubbing may get worse. As for traders, the companies in oil (USO), agriculture, coal, gold (GLD) and inflation themes were working today. Check out plays like Agrium (AGU) and Cleveland Cliffs (CLF). This is not the environment for big bets. Stay focused and use indexes if you need exposure and are not sure which individual stocks to trade, like (DIA), (SPY), or (QQQQ).

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

Dividend.com

Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. The author is not registered as an investment adviser. The author may or may not hold positions in the securities mentioned in this article or video. The author relies upon the "publisher's exclusion" from the definition of "investment adviser" as provided under Section 202(a)(11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and corresponding state securities laws.

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