Corona Fever Finally Hits the Market

*EXHALE*

Breathe, take it easy.  After months of predictable increased prices and dropping yields, the market finally went into correction this last week of February.  And in classic dividend investor style, I bought into the panic.  I still have a *little* cash left on hand for any more stomach twisting drops ahead, but I think the bears (and the algorithms) have had their way.  Looking forward to a good jobs report, and a bullish market for another 4 years...?

My annual income has increased dramatically (almost $500), now that we have had some yield increases, and I thawed a bit of my frozen assets to make it happen.  However, my net worth and my brokerage took a huge hit from the drops.  But that's how the market works, and it has historically recovered every time.  I feel fortunate I was able to have some cash on hand to take advantage of it.  While it felt like being a kid in a candy store picking up all the high yielders, there was the sobering reality of losing about half the profits I've gained over the years.



As of this writing, the virus has not really affected the USA too much, and China has been crippled by it.  It will be interesting to see if the panic in the market is at all justified.  Ok, now on to the data:

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
Old Republic (NYSE:ORI) declares $0.21/share quarterly dividend, 5% increase from prior dividend of $0.20.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) declares $1.50/share quarterly dividend, 10.3% increase from prior dividend of $1.36.
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) declares $0.43/share quarterly dividend, 6.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.405.

February Purchases:

GIS	13
T	8
MAIN	45
NNN	6
SO	6
ORI	14
ADM	4
CVX	14
O	7
ABBV	9
IP	13
HRL	26
OKE	1
WSO	5

Here's hoping March, coming in like a lion, will come out like a lamb...