nightly business report is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. a red-hot rally on wall street today as investors bought up stocks on hopes that europe could soon announce a big rescue plan. a lot of talk today, tom, about european countries voting in favor of a bigger bailout fund to deal with the debt crisis. tom: susie, that could go a long way to boost investor confidence, and that s why we saw the major stock averages move back into positive territory. the dow surged 272 points, closing above the 11,000 level again. the nasdaq rose 33 points and the s&p added 26. volume starting the week on the heavy side, just over a billion shares moving on the big board two billion on the nasdaq. but lots of focus as the meltdown continued in gold. prices tumbled more than 2.5% percent today, or $45, to under $1,600 an ounce. this is the lowest price
this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is off tonight. looking for a good bet for 2011? investing in dividend stocks could be where it s at. in the past week, we ve seen companies including pfizer, at&t and waste management boost their quarterly dividends. those increases may be one way to attract investors who pulled out of the stock market during the financial crisis and never came back. erika miller reports. reporter: 1.9%. that s the measly average dividend that s&p 500 firms are paying out these days. the good news is the payouts are expected to become more generous next year. analyst howard silverblatt says that s because many companies are becoming more optimistic. reporter: dividends are a cash flow item, and you need to have high confidence before you commit to sending out that check. it s also because so many firms are sitting on buckets of
this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is off tonight. looking for a good bet for 2011? investing in dividend stocks could be where it s at. in the past week, we ve seen companies including pfizer, at&t and waste management boost their quarterly dividends. those increases may be one way to attract investors who pulled out of the stock market during the financial crisis and never came back. erika miller reports. reporter: 1.9%. that s the measly average dividend that s&p 500 firms are paying out these days. the good news is the payouts are expected to become more generous next year. analyst howard silverblatt says that s because many companies are becoming more optimistic. reporter: dividends are a cash flow item, and you need to have high confidence before you commit to sending out that check. it s also because so many firms are sitting on buckets of
this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is off tonight. looking for a good bet for 2011? investing in dividend stocks could be where it s at. in the past week, we ve seen companies including pfizer, at&t and waste management boost their quarterly dividends. those increases may be one way to attract investors who pulled out of the stock market during the financial crisis and never came back. erika miller reports. reporter: 1.9%. that s the measly average dividend that s&p 500 firms are paying out these days. the good news is the payouts are expected to become more generous next year. analyst howard silverblatt says that s because many companies are becoming more optimistic. reporter: dividends are a cash flow item, and you need to have high confidence before you commit to sending out that check. it s also because so many firms are sitting on buckets of
this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. tom hudson is off tonight. looking for a good bet for 2011? investing in dividend stocks could be where it s at. in the past week, we ve seen companies including pfizer, at&t and waste management boost their quarterly dividends. those increases may be one way to attract investors who pulled out of the stock market during the financial crisis and never came back. erika miller reports. reporter: 1.9%. that s the measly average dividend that s&p 500 firms are paying out these days. the good news is the payouts are expected to become more generous next year. analyst howard silverblatt says that s because many companies are becoming more optimistic. reporter: dividends are a cash flow item, and you need to have high confidence before you commit to sending out that check. it s also because so many firms are sitting on buckets of