What To Expect During the Dog Days of Summer

Popular Posts:

• 3 High-Yielders to Avoid Like the Plague
• 8 Sturdy Big-Dividend Plays
• Prepare Yourself For the Worst From the Fed

Recent Posts:

• HD, WMT Offer Investors the Best in Retail
• Looking for Income? The ABCs of BDCs
• Prepare Yourself For the Worst From the Fed
• View All Posts

Welcome to the dog days of summer: The last two weeks in August. This is the time of year when many traders and Wall Street players take a week or so off for vacation, so we can expect lower trading volumes through the end of August. Now, while lower liquidity could very well cause some bumpiness with some of our stocks, I don’t expect that we’ll see anything like last summer’s volatility. In the meantime, even though some traders are out of town, you should take note of these events in the next few days:

Ex-Dividend Dates

For yield seekers like myself, this is my favorite time of earnings season: When companies announce their next quarterly dividend payments. The next few days will be your last chance to get in on the payout as a bunch of blue chips are going ex-dividend this week:

Tuesday

• Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT): 9 cents per share dividend and a 3% annual dividend yield. The pay date is September 13. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on AMAT.
• Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD): 25 cents per share dividend and a 2% yield. Shareholders of record on August 23 will also receive a special dividend of $1.00 per share. The pay date is September 7. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on LTD.
• Marriott (NYSE:MAR): 13 cents per share dividend and a 1.4% yield. The pay date is September 14. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on MAR.
• Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI): 32 cents per share dividend and a 4.1% yield. The pay date is September 17, but you may want to read my Stock of the Day write-up before buying into this stock.
• Wyndham Worldwide (NSE:WYN): 23 cents per share dividend and 1.75% yield. The pay date is September 7. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on WYN.

Wednesday

• Carnival (NYSE:CCL): 25 cents per share dividend and a 3% yield. The pay date is September 14. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on CCL.
• Equifax. (NYSE:EFX): 18 cents per share  dividend and a 1.5% yield. The pay date is September 14. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on EFX.
• Hershey (NYSE:HSY): 38 cents per share dividend and a 2% yield. The pay date is September 14. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on HSY.
• 3M (NYSE:MMM): 59 cents per share dividend and a 2.5% yield. The pay date is September 12. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on MMM.

Thursday

• Abercrombie & Fitch. (NYSE:ANF): 17.5 cents per share dividend and a 2% yield. The pay date is September 11. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on ANF.
• HollyFrontier (NYSE:HFC): 50 cents per share dividend and a 1.5% yield. The pay date is September 4. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on HFC.
• Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC): 55 cents per share dividend and a 3.2% yield. The pay date is September 12. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on NOC.

Friday

• Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE): 13 cents per share dividend and a 1% yield. The pay date is September 24. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on EXPE.
• GameStop (NYSE:GME): 25 cents per share dividend and a 5.4% yield. The pay date is September 12. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on GME.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): 61 cents per share dividend and a 3.6% yield. The pay date is September 11. Click here to see my Portfolio Grader report on GME.

Economic Reports

This should be a relatively quiet week on the economic front, but I anticipate that this will be the calm before the storm of reports that’s coming next week, which includes consumer confidence and second-quarter GDP. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, here are the reports to look for this week:

Wednesday: Existing Home Sales. The National Association of Realtors will release its monthly report that measures sales of existing homes on the market in July. The report is a good indicator of activity in the housing sector. Aside from total sales, two other indicators are worth watching in this report: the inventory of homes for sale and the median price.

Thursday: Initial Claims for Unemployment. The Labor Department produces this report that details initial jobless applications. The report provides an indicator of the direction of the economy, with increases or decreases in claims that signal slowing or accelerating job growth.

Thursday: New Home Sales. The Commerce Department will release this report that indicates the level of new privately owned single-family houses sold and for sale for July. In addition to new home sales, the market monitors the number of homes for sale relative to the current sales pace. As the inventory changes, housing starts change.

Friday: Durable Goods Orders. The Commerce Department will release this monthly report for July that details the dollar volume of orders, shipments and unfilled orders of durable goods. Durable goods are those items with an intended lifespan of more than three years. Orders for durable goods are considered an excellent indicator of manufacturing activity. It is likely that the stock market will move on this report.

I’ll be keeping an eye on all of these developments, and if there is any market moving news you can bet that I’ll have the scoop.