Tough day

After waking up & turning on TV, I found Dow was down 144 in pretrading, ugh!! At midway, it's still there. There are plenty of problems to worry the market. Today's biggest is that China may diversify it's stock holdings (i.e. in the US). Diversify means SELL, spelling an ugly day for the market. Other worries continue. The weak dollar is getting more attention, especially after the top model in the world says she wants to get paid in Euros not dollars. That thought speaks louder than 100 economists combined! Oil looks like it's heading for 100 very soon & the US has not felt this price pressure yet in a major way. Credit worries continue. Washington Mutual has been weak falling another 9% today as they are talking about credit losses in the last quarter. With a yield over 10%, sellers are bailing out letting buyers worry about the next dividend. This tough market can be expected to last for awhile, but it's also creating buying opportunities.

I like companies with excellent track records. Despite recent stories, some banks have done well and offer nice dividend yields. REIT's, master limited partnerships (MLPs), and selected stocks offer nice yields which will become even more attractive if the market slips further.

I've liked REIT's (real estate investment trusts) for a long time. Most have moved up nicely since early in the decade. In the past, yields have been 10-12% for higher yielding stocks. Today some offer yields around 7-8% as prices have pulled back this year. Most REITS own properties, typically apartments, malls, shopping centers, offices, etc. many specialize in one area of the country. Large ones are going international, buying properties in Europe, Japan, Mexico, etc. While this is a relatively new business compared with big companies going back over a century, some are able to point to records of 10-20 years. REITS are getting hit by worries in credit markets, but should be examined as ong term investments with nice yields. Good ones will survive rewarding the smart investor.