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
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. tom hudson is off; jeff yastine joins us tonight. and jeff, it s record time in the markets. not stocks, but gold prices. and silver, platinum, and most other commodities. jeff: susie, it s now four days in a row that gold continues to hit new records. today it closed at $1,410 an ounce. silver soared 5.5%, a new 30- year high, and platinum rose to its highest level in more than two years. susie: the forecast is for even higher prices. so what s going on? scott gurvey reports. reporter: the dollar goes down. gold goes up. its a standard rule of investing. but how does that explain corn and copper? crude and palladium? and even eggs. there actually are connections. start with the fed, buying securities to stimulate the economy. that lowers the value of the dollar, increasing t
tom hudson. 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. tom hudson is off; jeff yastine joins us tonight. and jeff, it s record time in the markets. not stocks, but gold prices. and silver, platinum, and most other commodities. jeff: susie, it s now four days in a row that gold continues to hit new records. today it closed at $1,410 an ounce. silver soared 5.5%, a new 30- year high, and platinum rose to its highest level in more than two years. susie: the forecast is for even higher prices. so what s going on? scott gurvey reports. reporter: the dollar goes down. gold goes up. its a standard rule of investing. but how does that explain corn and copper? crude and palladium? and even eggs. there actually are connections. start with the fed, buying securities to stimulate the economy. that lowers the value of the dollar,
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; jeff yastine joins us tonight. and jeff, it s record time in the markets. not stocks, but gold prices. and silver, platinum, and most other commodities. jeff: susie, it s now four days in a row that gold continues to hit new records. today it closed at $1,410 an ounce. silver soared 5.5%, a new 30- year high, and platinum rose to its highest level in more than two years. susie: the forecast is for even higher prices. so what s going on? scott gurvey reports. reporter: the dollar goes down. gold goes up. its a standard rule of investing. but how does that explain corn and copper? crude and palladium? and even eggs. there actually are connections. start with the fed, buying securities to stimulate the economy. that lowers the value of the dollar, increasing the cost of commodities priced in dollars. it in