Fixed income investors may have noticed a sizable change in the interest rate curve recently. While rates on the short end of the curve remained relatively unchanged, rates on 10-year notes and longer moved up around 50-60 basis points. That means that owners of corporate and government bonds and funds probably saw their investment values take a hit.

It's probably reasonable to assume that the bull market in bonds probably doesn't have a whole lot more room to run. Even after the upward move in the long end of the curve, rates are still at historically low levels and as the economy recovers rates have almost nowhere to go but up.

That would limit the long-term return potential of fixed income investments but that doesn't mean that you can't profit from the long-term up trend in rates. There are a number of funds and ETFs that are designed to either

Citigroup (C) has been one of my favorite stocks in the financial sector for a little while now. As the economy starts to slowly rebound, the housing market continues to pick up and the carnage from the recent financial crisis drifts further into the past, some of the big bank stocks are starting to look more and more like enticing investment opportunities.

I made the case a little while back why I think Bank of America (BAC) is poised to make a significant move upward and I think Citigroup might be in a similar promising position. There are a few catalysts - both fundamental and qualitative - that I think help make the case for a rise in Citigroup's stock price.

Citigroup, however, does face a few issues that as of now remain unresolved. How those issues impede or dampen the bank's growth potential remains to be seen but

I've written before about how BlackRock (BLK) stands as one of the best dividend growth plays in the financial sector. When I first profiled the stock, it was nearing the $200 mark. Today, it's approaching $300. Shareholders over the last year have had very little to complain about as the company financials continue to look solid and the stock has gone almost straight up. But I think it might still have room to run.

By many widely used valuation metrics, BlackRock isn't looking terribly inexpensive right now. Currently, the stock sports a current P/E ratio of 20 and a price to book ratio of 1.95. Both of these values are above the industry average but companies that are growing quickly often times warrant higher multiples. BlackRock certainly qualifies.

To get an idea of how well the company has performed and is continued to expect to perform, consider the following

Intel (INTC) used to be the alpha dog in the semiconductor space. That was back in the day when personal computers were all the rage and Intel held a dominant position in building the processors that made those machines work. Today, it is still a major player but the landscape is not what it used to be.

Intel didn't respond quickly enough when the world was choosing smaller mobile devices over the traditional PC and now Qualcomm (QCOM) has swept in and taken a leadership position in producing the components that power many smartphones and tablets. While Intel is dedicating billions of dollars to R&D and the upcoming Haswell chip seems to show a great deal of promise, the fact of the matter remains that Qualcomm is the leader in the chip market for mobile devices and Intel currently has very little presence in the space.

Intel's attempts to infiltrate

Intel (INTC) is set to deliver its Q1 earnings report to Wall Street after the market close on April 16. The chip giant has long served as a bellwether for the health of the PC sector but considering the continued migration to tablets and other mobile devices, the results for this quarter might not look good.

Depending on which report you want to believe, global PC shipments have dropped between 11-14% in the first quarter of this year and that will undoubtedly affect Intel's bottom line. The company is in a bit of a tricky situation because so much of its business plan is PC dependent. Businesses are still heavily reliant on the PC and that should support bottom line revenue but Intel has by and large failed to make significant headway into the smartphone and tablet space. The company is developing a new line of chips that is designed

A while back, I wrote an article that talked about how I thought Bank of America (BAC) stock was a buy ahead of a potential dividend increase that could be coming shortly. My theory was that once the company was able to satisfy the government's capital adequacy requirements and further strengthen its balance sheet, the next logical move could be to restore the dividend. After all, a returning dividend could be a show of financial strength to investors and Wall Street analysts that could be the boost that starts sending the stock price higher.

Well, the results of the Fed's Comprehensive Capital Adequacy Review came out and Bank of America did very well but then something happened. The company opted to keep the dividend at $.01 per share and instead invest its extra capital in repurchasing its own shares in the open market.

The move makes logical sense too.

When searching for dividend paying stocks to add to your portfolio, the technology sector is usually not the first place you look. Sectors like utilities and health care are more typically known for their income component but that doesn't mean that big dividend yields can't be found elsewhere as well.

Many tech companies reinvest any profits they receive back into the business in order to grow further so the ones that pay out a dividend - especially the ones that pay a significant dividend - are in many cases some of the bigger hitters in the sector. As the percentage of S&P 500 dividend income coming from the technology sector is on the rise (around 14% currently from a 6% level about five years ago), more investors are realizing that the sector is becoming a good place to get growth potential and income.

Consider these four big technology names that

Utility stocks have long had a reputation as a source of steady and predictable dividend income. Many retirees like to load up on utility stocks as a means of supplementing their retirement income and they can serve as a safe haven in times of rapid economic change.

Seen primarily as a defensive investment, utilities struggled around the time of the financial crisis as well as during the Hurricane Sandy super storm. While the utility sector has struggled to revisit its all-time highs, the ongoing development of natural gas and nuclear power as reliable alternative energy sources continues to provide the backdrop for future growth in the sector.

You can find a number of utility stocks that currently yield 4% or more but finding ones that have a history of steadily raising the dividend narrows the list considerably. If you're looking to add a utility company to your portfolio, this list

Whether you're looking to enhance the total return of the equity portion of your portfolio or you're looking for relief from the historically low rates currently being paid in the fixed income market, dividend paying stocks belong in your portfolio. In uncertain market environments, dividends can provide a perpetual and predictable source of return on your investments and, in many cases, they can deliver the majority of the return on an investment.

Finding companies with a solid dividend yield is just a start. Find the companies that pay a steady consistent dividend and raise their dividend payout on a regular basis and you've got a recipe for investing success.

Financials have been under Wall Street's microscope for some time thanks to the mortgage credit crisis and government bailouts. Now that much of the fallout has been priced into those stocks and balance sheets have begun improving again, investors are tip-toeing

Back in the halcyon days of the technology bubble, it wasn't unusual to see a company that had anything to do with technology or the Internet carry a ridiculous valuation multiple. Price-to-earnings ratios in the triple digits were far from unusual as investors bid prices up based on potential instead of anything real or tangible. Most of the excess was flushed out of the market as the technology bubble burst and the housing market nearly imploded.

Today, most stocks trade at reasonable valuations. Even technology stocks. But there's one stock whose valuation continues to defy explanation - Amazon (AMZN). The company by virtually any valuation metric looks incredibly overpriced. That alone might temper any upside the stock price might see but the company itself is also facing some potentially stiff headwinds that might ultimately test its position as the alpha dog in the Internet retailer space.

We'll take

Bank of America (BAC) sure has come a long way in the last five years. Now, it could be getting ready to go even further.

As the mortgage credit crisis was hitting its deepest depths, Bank of America stock was doing the same. In March 2009, the stock bottomed out around $3 a share. The balance sheet was flooded with defaults on its loan portfolio and it faced a very uncertain future.

But thanks to several rounds of government stimulus and some savvy from its management team, Bank of America survived. Today, it's not just surviving. It's beginning to thrive again.

The government's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (known as CCAR) was designed to assess the financial health and capital position of many of the nation's biggest banks in an effort to avoid another potential financial industry meltdown. While most of the big banks like Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo

If you're a dividend investor and looking for something to help juice the yield on your portfolio, you have to like what you're seeing in REITs right now. Do a simple search on the highest yield REITs out there and you'll find several on the list with yields of 10% or more. Moreover, valuations on many of these REITs - some of which reside in the single digits - mean that some of them deserve a look for the income-producing part of your portfolio.

Savvy investors know very well that an investment that seems too good to be true often times is and REITs that carry a double digit yield and a single digit P/E could very well fall into that category. REITs in general are not without some downside risks and the major ones are discussed here.

Dividend Risk

REITs are generally considered an excellent diversification tool for portfolios

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was one of four banks that did not receive the thumbs up from the Federal Reserve for their 2013 capital adequacy plan on Thursday. While not rejecting it outright, the Fed did say that it exhibited "weaknesses" and will require the bank to resubmit their plan by the end of the 3rd quarter.

The company's failure to get its capital plan approved by the Fed certainly won't do any favors to a public image that has already taken a significant hit thanks to the ongoing fallout from the London Whale trading fiasco. The Fed response would indicate that JPMorgan isn't using very realistic expectations when developing its balance sheet forecasts - one report said that JPMorgan estimated its potential losses in a worst case scenario at $200 million compared to the Fed's estimate of over $32 billion.

With all this happening within such a short period of

High end grocery chains Whole Foods (WFM) and Fresh Market (TFM) have both struggled recently with an uncertain macroeconomic environment as consumers continue to drift to value chains like Kroger (KR) or big box superstores like Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT).

Whole Foods managed to beat earnings and revenue forecasts for the first quarter of 2013 but disappointed on future revenue guidance. Additionally, they reported that comparable store sales growth has cooled from 8.5% to a still respectable 7.2%. Investors weren't impressed though and sent shares tumbling almost 10%.

The news was worse for Fresh Market. They missed on both earnings and revenue estimates and guided lower for the remainder of 2013 as well. Comparable store sales growth dropped all the way to 1.9% - way below analysts' estimates of 4.2%. Fresh Market shares experienced a similar plunge dropping 20% from the recent high of around $50 it reached in

Earlier this month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) finally eclipsed its previous all-time high set over five years ago. While on a surface level it might seem like good times are here again the foundation for such a lofty Dow level is not without its cracks.

The unemployment rate is still well north of 7% and the number of people who consider themselves underemployed or who have given up looking for work altogether would likely push the number even higher. Corporations are reporting record profits but many of those numbers are being supported more by accounting and cost cutting rather than genuine organic growth and improved financial strength.

It begs the question - are we nearing a temporary market peak and we're poised for a correction or is there further room for the broader market to continue pushing higher?

Considering the fact that the Fed is still supporting the

At the beginning of 2012, J.C. Penney (JCP) was almost an afterthought in the retail world. While giants like Kohl's (KSS) and Target (TGT) were dominating the retail apparel and household goods markets, J.C. Penney sales and earnings were lagging. It was then that Ron Johnson announced his turnaround strategy that would put the company back on the map.

One of the main features of the strategy was to eliminate event-driven "sale" pricing. Johnson felt that these things drove temporary traffic from people looking for a good deal but didn't build any lasting customer loyalty. In its place, Johnson established its "lowest price" campaign whose goal was to sell merchandise every day for sale-level prices so customers wouldn't have to wait for a sale event.

While initial reaction and results to the plan were encouraging, it proved to be nothing more than a temporary boost to the bottom

Plenty of people have debated how we should value financial stocks in a post-housing market collapse. The valuations on many of these companies have dropped well into the single digits as management continues to work non-performing loans off the books. A shining example of this would be one of the biggest banks of them all - Bank of America (BAC).

Three years ago as the government was conducting a series of stress tests to determine how well banks were positioned in various economic environments, Bank of America ended up being the big loser. It was determined that the company needed to raise an additional $33.9 billion in capital just to be considered adequately funded - a number that was almost as much as all other banks being stress tested needed to raise COMBINED.

The stock plummeted from a high of almost $60 a share all the way to under $4.

If you were to look at the stock market's reaction to Amazon's (AMZN) 3rd quarter earnings report last week, you'd think the results were pretty good. The stock rose from its pre-earnings close of about $223 on Thursday all the way up to $238 by the end of Friday. Wall Street appeared encouraged that the company's net operating loss for the quarter came in lower than expected but the rest of the numbers don't nearly support the investor enthusiasm for this stock.

Amazon reported $13.81 billion in top-line revenue for the quarter which is an impressive 27% year-over-year gain for the online retailer. The street however was expecting a number of $13.91 billion. The company also reported a loss of $0.23 per share which was way below the street estimate of a loss of $0.07.

I understand that the company is sacrificing short-term profitability for bigger revenue growth. If that

Dividends are one of the truly underappreciated aspects of an investment's total return. Many people still want to focus solely on the movements in a stock's price when assessing performance and determining whether or not a particular security is a good investment. While capital gains still account for the lion's share of an investment's total return the dividend income generated still provides a significant and predictable source of return.

Dividend income is starting to come into vogue again as companies are using their free cash flow to reward shareholders directly. Companies that have higher dividend payouts also tend to be larger and more well-established so adding these stocks to your portfolio provides the added benefit of lowering the overall risk of your portfolio through diversification.

Bonds and cash have traditionally been the best sources of income for a portfolio but as the economy continues to find a firm footing some