Last week, I told you that McDonald’s is a great example of a company with strong fundamentals and continued dividend strength. Yesterday, we saw more proof: The company said global same-store sales gained 8.2%. And even as most other restaurants posted weak U.S. results, McDonald’s watched same-store sales gain 5.3% here in the States. That’s great news for anyone holding the shares! Now today, I want to talk about some more companies that are bastions of dividends. And the place where I’m finding them may surprise you … Tech Stocks Keep Jumping to the Top of My Dividend Lists! Remember that table from “Yes, You Can Still Find Solid, Reliable, Fat Dividends?” It showed some of the companies that changed their dividend policies in September. Just in case you ...

Last week investor's fear reached 7 years high measured by volatility index VIX. On Thursday crossed above 40 and touched level of 42. As I pointed out previously this often declares the bottom in the bearish trend. In my view if we haven't bottomed yet we are at least close to that point.Let's have a look for the earnings and economic reports scheduled for this week. I will be watching mainly Research in Motion and GDP number at the end of the week.Monday:Economic NAEarnings AutoZone (AZO), CarMax (KMX)Tuesday:Economic NAEarnings FactSet (FDS), Lennar (LEN), HB Fuller (FUL), Worthington (WOR)Wednesday:Economic Existing Homes (4.93M), Weekly CrudeEarnings Neogen (NEOG), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Nike (NKE), Paychex (PAYX), Red Hat (RHT)Thursday:Economic Weekly Claims, New Homes (518K)Earnings Discover (DFS), McCormick (MKC), Texas Ind (TXI), Accenture ...

According to Johanna Bennett of Barrons, WITH STOCK VALUES PLUMMETING and bonds delivering measly returns, it’s a good time to start sniffing out shares with juicy dividends that are for keeps.

Track Johanna’s picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/632

To be sure, dividends generated by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index are growing drastically slower in 2008 than experts forecast earlier this year.

And though they have fared better than the broader stock market so far this year, total returns from dividend-paying stocks tracked by Standard & Poor’s have fallen almost 15%.  BUT, the best opportunities are in companies that have strong dividends and histories increasing the dividend with balance sheets and expected earnings that will allow continued payments (and increases):

Dividends Can Yield

Some companies with the ability to increase dividends

Company Ticker Mkt Cap Yield EPS ...