The Valspar Corporation (NYSE: VAL)

The Valspar Corporation manufactures and distributes various coatings, paints, and related products worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Coatings and Paints. The Coatings segment offers decorative and protective coatings for metal, wood, and plastic primarily for original equipment manufacturing customers. The Paints segment offers consumer paints consisting of interior and exterior decorative paints, stains, primers, varnishes, and floor paints, as well as specialty decorative products, such as enamels, aerosols, and faux finishes that are used in do-it-yourself and professional markets.
Please take a look at the 1-year chart of VAL (The Valspar Corporation) below with my added notations:
For the last (9) months VAL has been bouncing in the same general area while hitting a peak at $75 in May. Over that same period of time, the stock has created an important price level of $60 (blue) that has acted as both support and resistance whenever the stock has come in contact with it. In addition, the stock has another key level below $60 at the $55 (red).
The Tale of the Tape: VAL is approaching $60 again. A long trade could be made on a pullback down to $60 with a stop placed below that level. A break of $60 would be an opportunity to short the stock and should mean a fall back down to $55 where another long trade could be made.
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Earn a 6% Yield with These 3 International ETFs: SDIV, DWX, LVL

With a strong U.S. market, many international investments have fallen out of favor. This is especially true in the dividend space, as the prospect of Fed tapering spooked investors earlier in the year, sending share prices in this space crashing.

However, while the Fed still looks to taper, international dividend picks have come back pretty strong as of late. These products have all bounced off their summer lows, and in many respects, are well-positioned to take advantage of current trends (3 Red Hot Dividend ETFs).

After all, even if the Fed starts to taper, the benchmark discount rate look to remain exceptionally low for quite some time, suggesting that income will still be at a premium. And with Europe and other key international markets also back on track, now could be a very interesting time to investigate the international dividend space further. (more)

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These New High-Yield REITs are Currently a Bargain: ORC, BMNM, OAKS, JMI

REITs have been taking a beating for the past year…

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY), which is considered by many to be a proxy for the REIT sector, has lost about one third of its market value since September 2012.
Investors in Annaly who’ve endured those losses will need more than two years of its 15.31% dividend yield to break even. (more)

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My Top 2 George Soros Picks: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) and LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD)

For more than 40 years, George Soros delivered an average annual return of about 20% to the investors in his hedge fund. At that rate of return, a $10,000 investment when the fund was started in 1969 would have grown to more than $20 million when Soros closed the fund in 2011.
Soros did not provide day-to-day management for the fund throughout its entire history, but he was the driving force behind those gains.
He may be best known for his success in the currency markets. Soros is the trader who broke the Bank of England and enjoyed a $1 billion profit in a single day. But Soros started his career as a stock market analyst and demonstrated his extraordinary talent for investing in his 1987 book The Alchemy of Finance. His stock selection was responsible for most of the returns in his hedge fund. His fund more than doubled in about a year while he was documenting his thoughts about the markets. (more)

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It’s 2010 All Over Again, Avoid Stocks Linked to U.S. Consumption

Two years after protesters camped out in lower Manhattan for the Occupy Wall Street movement, it could be argued that very little has changed. In fact, the S&P 500 is within one percent of its record high amidst a backdrop of mixed and largely uninspiring economic data.

Sound familiar?

You bet it does, says Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist at Blackrock, in the attached video.

"In some ways we're still in the same environment we've been in since 2010," he says, pointing to an economy that's getting better at a very slow pace, an uneven recovery, and consumers who are still struggling with a little too much debt and weak income growth. (more)
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NYSE Euronext Announces Final Index Composition for Enhanced NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index

September 16, 2013- NYSE Euronext today announced an enhanced methodology for the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index (GDM), the preeminent index covering the gold mining industry. For the first time ever, the index will include non-U.S. listed companies and set a minimum market capitalization requirement of $750 million for component companies. The changes will be enacted at the next index rebalance effective before the open on Monday, September 23, 2013. 
“The NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index is the leading benchmark covering the gold mining industry for the community of market participants and exchange traded product issuers on our exchange,” said Dwijen Gandhi, managing director, Global Index and Exchange-Traded Products. “These changes are indicative of the growing demands by clients who want exposure to a global universe of larger-cap gold mining companies.”
The NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index is a modified market capitalization weighted index comprised of publicly traded companies primarily involved in the mining of gold and silver in locations around the world.
Below are the key changes to the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index methodology:

• access to non-U.S. listed companies, ensuring component diversity and international exposure;
• new index components must have a minimum of $750 million in market capitalization;
• prioritization of U.S. cross-listings, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts for international companies;
• implementation of a buffer zone around the $750 million market capitalization and other trading requirements to reduce turnover during quarterly rebalances.

The rebalance and methodology changes will result in the following companies being added to or deleted from the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index effective for Monday, September 23, 2013:

ADDITIONS	DELETIONS
Alacer Gold Corp	Allied Nevada Gold Corp
Alamos Gold Inc	Golden Star Resources Ltd
Argonaut Gold Inc	Seabridge Gold Inc
Centamin PLC	Silver Standard Resources Inc
Detour Gold Corp	Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corp
Dundee Precious Metals Inc	Vista Gold Corp
Franco-Nevada Corp
G-Resources Group Ltd
McEwen Mining Inc
Newcrest Mining Ltd
Osisko Mining Corp
Sibanye Gold Ltd
Zhaojin Mining Industry Co Ltd
Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd

Please click here for the full revised methodology to the NYSE Gold Miners Index and here for the trader notice.
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