Are corporate dividend payments increasing or decreasing?
It largely depends on the industry. For example, auto manufacturers (Ford, GM, etc) has paid dividends for decades and now do not– so it you just look at autos the answer is decreasing. But, many regional banks (different than Financial firms on Wall Street) continue to pay a nice dividend AND with their stock prices depressed the dividend yield looks pretty good. If you looked at the Fortune 500, you’d probably notice a decreasing dividend trend. But you’d need to look deeper to get the real picture. Right now, dividend stocks are back in vogue with Jim Cramer of Mad Money screaming about their benefits. Here’s a good description of how dividend stocks can be used to create wealth.
