International Dividends

It has been a tough market so far this year. Most of the early gains have been retraced. As of Friday the S&P 500 was up only 1.8%. The majority of that gain came from dividends. Investing in dividend paying stocks has always been a great defensive play. The U.S. and International markets face some daunting headwinds over the next few months with the Federal Reserve ending its second Quantitative Easing program (QE2) and in Europes continuing problems with its Sovereign Debt. In light of the problems facing the market, it is worth considering a global dividend strategy.