June wasn’t kind to the stock market. In fact, the S&P 500 had its worst month since September 2002 and its worst June since 1930.

So far, July hasn’t been much better.

End result: The S&P 500 is now back below 1300, the same place it was at in the beginning of 2006. In other words, it has given up all the gains made throughout 2007.

In fact, the S&P 500 was at the very same 1300 level as far back as 1999. In between were massive rallies, sure. But over the last eight years, the market has basically gone nowhere.

You can see why I continue to think select dividend-paying shares are the perfect way to get paid while the market idles in neutral and interest rates remain insultingly low….

Employees are not the only ones seriously affected by outsourcing. Large banks have outsourced customer accounts to third parties. There has been at least one instance of call-center employees making fraudulent transactions. Examples of poor service abound. Investments in branding are wasted, apart from the crippling loss of customer goodwill.

This kind of outsourcing may be to a foreign national who was previously employed by the bank. That is why employees move swiftly to brush outsourcing dirt under the carpet. Presidential candidates speak of national employment effects of sending jobs abroad, but the effects on stocks have been hidden from the views of most investors.

The chemical lead in toys, and quality issues with life-saving medicines, are extreme examples of serious business lapses due to outsourcing. It is up to stock investors to ask relevant questions of executives and directors at quarterly conferences. Window-dressing of quarterly results through

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According to the CNBC Stock Blog “Powering Your Portfolio: Uranium” what is uranium miner Cameco’s other business?

Looking to miners, Canada’s Cameco (CCJ) has a market capitalization of more than $13 billion and is the world’s largest uranium producer. It also mines gold.

Cameco scores average for each of the models I follow with the exception of return potential. It gets a low score there.

Disclosure: Author is long STREETTRACKS GOLD (GLD) at time of publication.

Bull runs show diversification in poor light. The Conglomerates Sector is a nearly inevitable victim when one or the other industry experiences a surge in demand. Diversified companies cannot refocus their resources to leverage such opportunities fully.

The shoe changes feet in troubled stock investing times. A conglomerate has best chances of surviving a depression. Diversification is also a meaningful hedge against rampant inflation. This approach can help in stock investing as well.

The herd mentality is a bane of stock investing. We pour hard-earned capital to copy what the media and stock brokers tell us others do. The benefits of contrarian stock investing deserve greater attention. A tangible step in this direction is to diversify every stock portfolio.

Not all conglomerates succeed. Some lose the benefits of operational autonomy because they are top-heavy. Others build high fixed costs by decentralizing even common management functions. The centralization-decentralization balance drives business success in

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It is sad that society and business discourage new ideas. High school teaches us to hone concrete intelligence. Anything that does not make instant sense is dismissed out of hand. We heap ridicule on offbeat thinking.

Business and stocks are prime losers of the structured way or premature evaluation. Creativity is encouraged in art though it has productive applications in trade and commerce. Have your traditional stock investing methods run out of steam? Here are five steps you can take to inject creative energy into a deflated stock portfolio:

1. Develop formal skills in creative thinking: Edward de Bono is a prolific author on systematic creativity as a business process. There are other approaches available as well. Integrate creativity in to your daily stock investing operations. 2. Simulate using qualitative guides: stock investing is not only about past figures. Garner qualitative inputs from business managers about how they aim to build market shares

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Three weeks ago, one of my recommended companies announced it was being acquired — at a nice premium — by Mars (with help from Warren Buffett).

Now, another of my favorite consumer staples is reportedly up for grabs, too!

I’m talking about Anheuser-Busch (BUD), which I first recommended in the exact same report that profiled Wrigley.

Last Friday, the Financial Times reported that InBev SA, the giant Belgian brewer, is working on a $46-billion takeover bid for BUD.

The shares rose to a new all-time high of $58 shortly after the news hit the wires. So if you already own BUD stock, you might want to crack open a cold one and celebrate!

And even if you don’t yet own the stock, a $46-billion buyout implies an acquisition price of $65 …

The CBOE announced Tuesday that they’re going to license the methodology used to derive the VIX to other global exchanges: “The Indian exchange, the NSE in India, recently took up a license from us,” CBOE Chief Executive William Brodsky said at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading summit in Chicago. “This is a new and growing source of revenue for us as well.” The move would eventually help Indian investors understand and trade volatility as an asset in the U.S. market. “It’s something that helps solidify our brand and get more attention to the products,” Brodsky said. “So people understanding volatility in India, they’re certainly going to want to trade volatility in the U.S. and that will rebound to us.” Brodsky said he plans to attend the annual general assembly of the International Option Market Association this week where he already has people lined up who are interested in CBOE’s volatility products. [link]...