The Retiree's Dividend Portfolio - Jane's April Update: Looking More Like A Return To Normalcy
Published May 31, 2020 on Seeking Alpha

Jane's retirement accounts generated a total of $1,852.44 of dividend income for April 2020 vs. $1,972.96 of dividend income for April of 2019.
A total of five companies paid an increased dividend or issued a special dividend during the month of April.
The market ended on a positive note at the end of April but sentiment has faded as tensions with China rise and bleak retail sales figures are announced.
We examine why Jane's income decreased year-over-year even though only one company that cut its dividend paid-out during the month of April.
The market has an odd combination of pessimism and positivity priced into it over the last week. Ironically, not much has really changed other than Jay Powell reiterating the Federal Reserve's commitment to using as much firepower as necessary to stabilize the markets and what seems like regular announcements regarding the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.
Suddenly, we have states like California switching their stance on statewide restrictions for closing large segments of the economy now announcing that "53 of 58 California counties are all of a sudden eligible to get their economies back up and running."
Society loves to adopt what I've come to term as the pendulum swing (especially when it comes to controversial subjects where the truth is likely somewhere in the middle). The pendulum swing refers to the extremes on either side as it swings back-and-forth and the sentiment that comes with having extremes on either side of the center (which is exactly where the pendulum would rest if there is no positive or negative news driving the pendulum from one extreme to the other). In the case of COVID-19, it's all about how states are reacting and whether or not they are taking a whole state approach (I.E. if things are bad in one county the rest of the state must act like things are just as bad in every other county) versus opening up everything (I.E. we know some counties are facing more challenges... Read more