(New York)

Safe dividend stocks are absolutely prized by America’s retirees. No group relies on dividends more than retirees, and most seek safe and reliable dividends with underlying businesses that can provide some price appreciation too. With that in mind, three stocks to look at are McDonalds, Corning, and Starbucks. All three companies have strong and growing businesses and seem committed to rewarding shareholders. They also have the formidable capital position to be able to invest in continuing robust growth even in changing times.

FINSUM: We don’t know much about Corning, but McDonalds seems like a good bet to us. The company has responded well to the shifts in consumer tastes and it has been innovative in adapting its menu and model to the new environment.

(New York)

Retail clients, and some advisors, are adopting an increasingly defensive outlook on the market as the economy roars and rate hikes look more and more certain (not to mention soaring valuations). So what are the best defensive ETFs to protect a portfolio? The range of defensive strategies is broad—from dividend-focused, to shorting, to multi-factor. Some of the most popular include the AdvisorShares Dorsey Wright Short ETF, the Fidelity Dividend ETF for Rising Rates, or the Principal Mega-Cap Multi-Factor Index ETF.

FINSUM: It seems a smart choice to have defense ETFs be a decent portion of one’s portfolio right now. That said, we would be anxious to make shorting-focused ETFs a substantial holding.

(New York)

For several years Vanguard was seen as the champion of low-cost investing. It led the revolution in ever-lower cost ETFs. However, just recently, it seems to have fallen on hard times as it is facing challenges on multiple fronts. In particular, it is suffering at the hands of Fidelity, which is undercutting it on fund pricing. Fidelity’s recent no-fee index funds mean they are even cheaper than Vanguard’s lowest cost funds. The second, and perhaps even more worrisome challenge, relates to investment minimums, which Fidelity did away with on its cheapest funds. Vanguard’s minimums are now starting to look old-fashioned by comparison.

FINSUM: The best way for Vanguard to compete would be to merge some of the classes of their products. However, doing so would require a big revenue haircut, all of which means the company has some tough choices to make.

(New York)

Retail has had a great year, but looks to be facing headwinds moving forward as executives and analysts have all downgraded forecasts for the sector. However, one area of retail that looks to remain very hot are off-price stores, or discount retailers. Such retailers are seen as largely immune to ecommerce because of their treasure-hunt experience for customers and their high turnover model, which makes them less susceptible to online retailers. Accordingly, they held up well even during retail’s rout. One stock that looks likely to do well now is Burlington Stores. The reason why is that it is behind leaders TJ Max and Ross in that it has not yet optimized its operating model for the current environment, but is beginning to. This is not reflected in its stock, which means it has a great deal of upside.

FINSUM: Retail is one of the sectors we feel we have special insight into, and we definitely agree that off-price stores are going to hold up well moving forward.

(Washington)

There has been a lot of speculation that the midterm elections could cause a big problem for markets. If the Democrats sweep into congress, causing a major power shift, many worry markets might crumple. However, the reality is that the most likely outcome—a blue House and Red Senate—would actually be bullish for stocks. One analyst who specializes in political-driven investing says that investors would be relieved to have a split Congress. If somehow both chambers go blue, then there would likely be a selloff in bonds, stocks, and the Dollar, but even that might prove a buying opportunity as Democrats “are not unified around anything”.

FINSUM: Depending on the election’s outcome, different sectors are going to see different results, as some are blue-positive (like auto suppliers, homebuilders, hospitals etc), while others are red-positive (like biotech, banking, credit cards, and defense).