On corporate dividend payments.

• Author: Rees, Matthew
• Position: U.S. Economy

"Overall, Corporate America remains stingy with dividends. Companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index are expected to dole out just 30 percent of their earnings in dividends in 2007, a record-low profit payout. The dividend yield on the S&P 500 is only 1.8 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average yields just a bit more: 2.1 percent. The S&P small- and mid-cap stock indexes yield only about 1 percent."

"U.S. companies have raised dividends at a double-digit rate in recent years, but operating earnings have been rising even more briskly...