Last week with the stock market having turned modestly higher, I asked if this turn could hold when so many other recent upturns have failed.

We spend most of our time looking at our various valuation models in search of stocks that are cheap.

A few weeks ago I discussed a column from Gene Marcial of "BusinessWeek" extolling the virtues of rising dividend investing. Mr. Marcial cited a research report from the Ned Davis Company, a well respected investment research firm, that showed that rising dividend stocks had outperformed other general investment styles from 1972 through 2008.

There has been lots of news lately about the number of companies that are cutting their dividends to preserve capital. In many cases, we believe these cuts make good economic sense when considering that capital and cash are kings and so hard to come by in the current economy.

“Follow the Juicy Dividends.” That’s what “Businessweek” columnist Gene Marcial advocates in his February 23 “Inside Wall Street” column (Sorry I can’t find the link). In the article he points out that investing for dividends alone has not shown to be a superior investment strategy. He cites research from the Ned Davis organization that shows that it’s not just dividends; it’s rising dividends that matter.

Oil prices are trying to find a bottom along with stocks. Yet, the big international oil stocks, while down, have been doing much better than the overall market on a relative basis.

On November 21, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that Timothy Geithner would be his Treasury Secretary. On that day, the Dow Jones rallied almost 500 points.

I don't believe I have ever seen so many of the nine major stock market sectors with such similar chart patterns, something resembling a hockey stick -- down and sideways.

Soon, we will begin to see the outlines of the Obama plan to aid the banks. The administration has said that after Secretary of the Treasury-designate, Timothy Geithner, is approved by the Senate he will describe the administration's programs aimed at unfreezing the banks.

In recent weeks, the idea of an "aggregator bank" appears to be gathering steam. The aggregator bank would buy the bad assets, or toxic loans from the banking system at heavily discounted prices, which would then allow the banks, sans the toxic loans, to get back to banking.

I continue to believe that the bears on the Industrial sector are wrong. The reason is partly based on my belief that the worldwide infrastructure build out, while slowed, is still alive.