The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are CVS Health Corp (CVS); Microsoft Corporation (MSFT); Moderna Inc (MRNA); McDonald`s Corp (MCD) and the Focus List deletions are Mckesson Corporation (MCK); HCA Healthcare Inc (HCA); KLA Corp. (KLAC); TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX).

This is among our most-important themes for 2022, and stretches across industries. We think companies that raise their dividends consistently at a double-digit rate are sending off three important signals amid all the recent market volatility: 1) the company's balance sheet is strong enough to pay a dividend; 2) management is focused on providing shareholder returns; and 3) management is confident enough in the near-term outlook to raise the payout aggressively. This third factor is especially important as the pandemic upends the nation's recent record of long-term economic growth. Here are 12 stocks that meet our double-digit dividend test and are on the Argus BUY list. They are also holdings in our Dividend Growth Separately Managed Account and in the Dividend Growers Total Return Trust, sponsored by SmartTrust.

Often overlooked amid gyrations in the stock market is dividend income, which is an important element of total return. Between 1930 and 2012, dividend income accounted for 42% of total return of the S&P 500, according to Hartford Funds. And that's just the average. In some decades, dividends accounted for more than 50% of total returns and even 100% of returns. More recently, dividends have accounted for 15%-20% of returns. Still, in 2018, dividend payments softened the blow when most market indices declined as the Federal Reserve hiked rates. But not all dividends are created equal, though, and it is important to understand the difference between the two main categories: high-yield stocks and dividend-growth stocks.

Explosive growth in mobile and fixed-line traffic is driving demand for robust data centers that are enabled for artificial intelligence (AI) and can manage rising and increasingly-complex traffic flow. Two-thirds of the world will have internet access by 2023, while the number of connected devices is expected to grow to three-times the global population. IoT (machine to machine or M2M) connections are expected to grow at a 30% CAGR. Security is a top need, as "denial of service" attacks are set to double by 2023. To handle the challenges of managing, storing, and securing data amid this explosive traffic growth, data centers will need to harness the power of artificial intelligence. AI enhances data center capabilities though the power of machine learning, inference, and deep learning, all in an application-accelerated environment. The AI data center also makes use of non-traditional and emerging technologies that provide more computing power than traditional CPU-based architectures. These include GPU Compute from NVidia and Tensor cores from Google/Alphabet. As of mid-year 2021, about 600 hyperscale data centers were in operation around the world, up from about 500 at year-end 2019 and double the number from five years ago. The bulk of data center construction is by hyperscale providers including AWS from Amazon.com, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud from Alphabet, as well as with Chinese companies including Baidu and Alibaba. Co-location companies are another major data center driver, including Equinix and Digital Realty Trust. International Business Machines is providing hybrid cloud services that bridge public and private clouds. Other data center suppliers include semiconductor companies Broadcom, Marvell Technology, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices. Stocks on the Argus Research BUY list that are in position to benefit include the following.

The market is stumbling like a reveler exiting a company holiday party (remember those from pre-COVID times?). In the final full trading week of 2021, the S&P 500 slipped 1.94%; the Dow Industrials dropped 1.68%; and the Nasdaq crashed 2.95%. Predictably, growth stocks in the Nasdaq were hit hardest during a week in which the Fed doubled down on its QE taper and laid out its rate-hike timeline for 2022.

Stocks fell on Thursday, reversing course after Wednesday's Fed-driven rally amid concerns about rising cases of the Omicron variant. Sector performance was mixed, with sharp losses in Technology and Consumer Discretionary stocks and gains in Financials, Healthcare, and Basic Materials. On the employment front, first-time jobless claims rose to 206,000 for the week ended December 11, up from 188,000 a week earlier and above the consensus forecast of 200,000. Continuing claims fell to 1.845 million, down from 1.999 million a week earlier and below the consensus estimate. The Dow fell 0.08%, the S&P 0.87%, and the Nasdaq 2.47%. Crude oil rose $1 to $72 per barrel, while gold rose $35 to $1799 per ounce.

The cryptocurrency market (i.e. Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, etc.) is approximately $3.1 trillion, but has been tumbling in recent days from the $3.7 trillion level amid a high level of volatility. Even in light of the sell-off, Bitcoin is up more than 50% year-to-date. In theory, consumers, investors, and traders can all be attracted to Bitcoin. For consumers, cryptocurrency can cut out the middleman in a transaction of value. That said, we think crypto volatility is too high to consider paying for a tank of gas (or even a Tesla) with Bitcoin. For traders, the ups and downs of cryptocurrencies are a major opportunity -- as long as they are on the right side of Elon Musk's tweets or rapidly changing Chinese crypto regulations. For investors, the goal is to determine when crypto will become a more mainstream security. We estimate the global equity market capitalization is approximately $110 trillion. Gold is about $10 trillion. For crypto to make it into the asset-allocation models for most investment managers, we think it needs to approximately double in value to $5-$6 trillion. Then it could account for 2%-3% of total portfolio assets and could be used as a growth alternative. By then, there also may be more uses for and regulations to define the asset class, and more fundamentals to support valuation.

Sustainable Impact Investing is gaining traction with the global investment community. In January 2020, BlackRock CEO Lawrence Fink, who oversees approximately $9 trillion in assets, announced that his firm would be investing in companies that are making progress on sustainability. He doubled down in his January 2021 letter, calling on company managements to disclose their plans for making their businesses "compatible with a net-zero economy" by 2050. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Impact Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, focused at first on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. But the performance of these initial strategies lagged, and the approach has been modified. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes "sustainable" business practices across all industries that can have an "impact" on global issues such as the climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers' rights.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Stocks were mixed on Thursday morning amid continued concerns about accelerating inflation. Disney shares fell more than 7% after the company posted disappointing fiscal 4Q earnings and much lower than expected growth in Disney+ subscriptions. The Dow fell 0.2%, the S&P rose 0.2%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.8%. Crude oil rose slightly to $81.50 per barrel, while gold traded near $1864 per ounce.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

For a moment, September seemed like a worst nightmare for investors. Yet the further we get from September, that month's selloff barely qualifies as a bad thought. The stock market followed up its strong October with a positive pair of winning sessions to start November. Earnings continue to outperform expectations, and the VIX keeps working lower as fear drains from the market.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Stocks were mixed on Friday morning following new consumer spending data and earnings reports from Apple and Amazon. The Commerce Department said that U.S. consumer spending rose 0.6% in September, above the Reuters consensus of 0.5% but down from 1.0% growth in August. Apple shares fell 3% after the company posted lower-than-expected fiscal 4Q revenue and warned of continued supply-chain constraints. Amazon also fell following disappointing 3Q results and weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance. The Dow rose 0.2%, the S&P fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.2%. Crude oil traded near $82 per barrel, while gold fell $26 to $1777 per ounce.

The stock market moved higher last week as earnings season picked up steam. Tech stocks outperformed blue chips, though the margin of outperformance was slim owing to disappointing earnings from some tech names. During Friday's session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 74 points, or 0.21%. The S&P 500 was down 0.11%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.82%. For the week, the DJIA was up 382 points, or 1.08%, the S&P 500 was up 1.64%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.29%. Year-to-date, the DJIA is up 16.57%, the S&P 500 is up 21.00%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 17.08%.

This edition features a framework for measuring human capital risk; Asia reporting; inflation and supply chain issues in upcoming earnings; and notes from Verizon, VMware, and new coverage EML Payments.

Stocks finished mostly higher on Thursday as investors weighed earnings reports from a range of major companies along with new employment data. First-time unemployment claims fell to 290,000, down from the prior week and below consensus. Continuing claims dropped to 2.481 million from 2.603 million a week earlier, and were also below the consensus forecast. Housing data was strong. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose 7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.29 million, up from a decline of 2% in August and above the consensus estimate calling for 3.7% growth. The Dow fell 0.02%, the S&P rose 0.30%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.62%. Crude oil fell 1% to $82.50 per barrel, while gold fell slightly to $1784 per ounce.

Stocks were mixed on Thursday morning following earnings reports from IBM, Tesla, and Blackstone, and new employment data. IBM shares fell more than 7% after the company posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter revenue, while Tesla rose 3% after strong 3Q earnings, driven by record vehicle deliveries. On the employment front, the Labor Department said that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 290,000 for the week ended October 16, down from 296,000 a week earlier and below the consensus forecast of 297,000. The Dow fell 0.2%, the S&P was flat, and the Nasdaq rose 0.4%. Crude oil fell more than 1% to $82 per barrel, while gold traded near $1781 per ounce.

This edition features the continuing shift to software; biopharma capital allocation; rising ransomware attacks; and new coverage of Stem, Keysight, and Carlyle Group.

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are DuPont de Nemours Inc (DD); Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc (HLT); Twilio Inc (TWLO); Corning, Inc. (GLW) and the Focus List deletions are LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB); American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP); International Business Machine (IBM); T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS); Restaurant Brands Intl In (QSR).

Stocks rose on Thursday in a broad-based rally as investors are more optimistic about the possibility of a debt ceiling resolution. The Dow is 2% away from its all-time high. The Labor Department reported that initial unemployment claims for the week ended October 2 were 326,000, compared to an expected 348,000 and an upwardly revised 364,000 during prior week. Continuing claims for the week ended September 25 were 2.7 million, less than the 2.8 million expected. The Dow rose 1%, the S&P 0.8%, and the Nasdaq 1.1%. Crude oil rose to near $79 per barrel, while gold fell almost $6 to $1756 per ounce.