Turnkey Dividend Portfolios You Can Start Today — Easy Peasy #53

Dividend Growing Stock Sets – Start with $300, $500, or $1,000 Weekly

MaxDividends Mission: Helping & Supporting Everyone in Building a Growing Passive Income, Retiring Early, and Living Off Dividends.

In this section, we share ready-made sets of promising dividend growth stocks with strong future dividend potential.

We also track performance and provide portfolio links for each set, so you can monitor past results and real-time updates.

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Intro

Small-Caps Lead as Rate Cut Bets Heat Up

U.S. markets notched another round of record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, but it was the Russell 2000 stealing the spotlight for a second straight day, surging on growing odds of a Fed rate cut in September after the latest CPI print. The Dow climbed sharply, helped by rebounds in lagging 2025 names like UNH, NKE, and SHW. Optimism over easing trade tensions, fading tariff risks, and pure upside momentum have powered a four-month winning streak.

All eyes now on Thursday’s PPI, then a busy Friday with Retail Sales, Import Prices, Industrial Production, and the Trump–Putin meeting. Breadth was strong with nearly all eleven S&P sectors higher, led by Healthcare, Materials, and Consumer Discretionary, while big-cap Tech cooled off on profit-taking in NVDA, NFLX, MSFT, META, and GOOGL. Crypto jumped, the dollar slipped, oil fell, and gold caught a bid.

📊 Economic Data

30-Year Mortgage Rate fell to 6.67% (from 6.77%), lowest since early April; refi applications up 23% to 4-month high, per MBA, but little impact on new homebuying.

💰 Commodities, Currencies & Treasuries

• WTI Crude $62.65 (-0.52) – slid to 11-week low on surprise U.S. crude build, higher output, and ahead of Trump–Putin talks.

• Brent $65.63 (-0.49) – pressure from IEA supply growth forecast boost to +2.5M bpd in ’25 and +1.9M in ’26.

• Gold $3,408.30 (+9.30) – higher on softer dollar, rate cut bets; 6 gains in past 9 sessions.

• EUR/USD1.1698 (+0.0025) – euro firmer on U.S. rate cut expectations.

• JPY/USD147.43 (-0.40) – yen stronger as yields fell.

• 10Y Yield4.24% (-0.053) – drop on mounting September cut odds; Fed funds futures price 98% chance for -25bps, hope for -50bps.

🛒 Retail, Consumer Staples & Restaurants

• CPRI jumped after JPM upgrade to Overweight, tgt $30 from $24, citing FY28E EPS power +25% above consensus.

• GIL buying HBI for $2.2B cash/stock; ONON cut to Underperform at Jefferies on slowing growth from ’26. LULU +3% on strong session.

• DLTR, OLLI, DG, FIVE, TGT estimates raised by Truist Card Data; LOW slightly cut; WMT, HD, BBY sales in-line to better.

• PETS slid as CEO/CFO resigned; COOK cut to Neutral at B Riley, tgt $1.50 from $3 on weak grill sales.

• CAVA tumbled on miss ($280.6M vs est. $285.6M) and soft SSS growth 2.1% vs est. 6.47%; FY SSS guide 4%-6% vs est. 7.67%.

• EAT popped on Q4 beat ($1.46B vs $1.21B y/y), 24% Chili’s comp sales jump, $400M buyback.

• AMZN to expand grocery delivery for Prime; WMT, CART, KR dipped on news.

• STZ, SAM, TAP, BUD weak after Gallup showed U.S. adult alcohol consumption at record low 54% vs 58% in 2024.

⚡ Energy, Industrials & Materials

• VG gained after tribunal win over SHEL in LNG cargo dispute; COP awarded HAL 5-year stimulation services deal.

• OKLO selected for 3 DOE reactor pilot projects; LEU fell on $650M convertible note offering.

• KBR cut to Neutral at BofA, tgt $55 from $70 after $20B DoD HomeSafe contract cancellation.

• DHI, BZH, LEN, TOL, PHM rallied with yields lower.

• CF, CTVA upgraded to Overweight at Barclays on strong ag chem results; CMP cut to Underweight at JPM on weak FY25 outlook.

🏦 Banks & 💳 FinTech

• BLSH IPO opened at $90 after pricing at $37; highs $109 before fading; HOOD, IBKR soft.

• CRCL filed to sell 2M Class A shares; holders offering 8M.

• HRB mixed FQ4; margins/FY26 guide missed; volumes -0.9% y/y vs industry +1.7%.

• BRO cut to Equal Weight at Wells on slower near-term organic growth; Cantor initiated AJG, AON, MMC at OW; various mixed ratings across brokers and insurers.

• Kobeissi Letter flagged serious delinquency rates: credit cards 12.3% (highest since 2011), auto loans 5.0%, student loans 10.2%.

🧪 Biotech & Life Sciences

• ATNF +200% prior day, +again on Peter Thiel 7.5% stake; rebranding to ETHZilla, holding 82,186 ether ($349M).

• GBIO + on strategic review, 90% workforce cut by Oct after weak Q2 ($765K vs est. $3.1M).

• IBRX rose on promising Phase I lymphoma results for CD19 CAR-NK therapy.

• INSM cut to Equal Weight at MS post-BRINSUPRI approval; PT to $126 from $112.

• LLY launched Mounjaro pen in India for $160; insider buys from CEO ($1M), CSO ($643K), others.

• VOR said Telitacicept met Phase 3 endpoint in primary Sjogren’s.

🚁 Aerospace & Defense

• CDRE cut to Underperform at BofA, tgt $26 from $38; VVX upgraded to Buy, tgt $65 from $55; HII tgt to $260 from $180, BWXT tgt to $220 from $155.

• CACI double-upgraded to Buy at GS, PT $544 from $407; PSN cut to Neutral.

📰 Internet, Media & Telecom

• WBTN jumped on content deal with DIS; CMCSA launched $85/mo “World Soccer Ticket” ahead of FIFA 2026.

• GOOGL’s YouTube to launch AI age-verification in U.S.

🔌 Semiconductors, Hardware & Software

• SPNS + on $2.5B buyout by Advent at $43.50/sh.

• INTA + on beat-and-raise Q4 and $150M buyback.

• CRWV fell on mixed guide; TSSI offering; VRT, NBIS down in sympathy.

• LITE upgraded to Neutral at BofA, tgt $135 from $78 on earlier margin expansion path.

• PANW upgraded to Buy at Deutsche, tgt $220; survey showed mixed cyber demand, ZS uptick.

• SSYS cut FY guide to $550M-$560M revs, EPS $0.13-$0.16.

• AAPL reportedly planning AI-driven devices incl. home robots, smart speaker with display in ’26–’27.

• RGTI on track for 100-qubit QPU by year-end.

U.S. reportedly tracking AI chip shipments from NVDA, AMD to prevent diversion to China; AMD + on Fubon note naming AMD, AVGO as fastest-growing CoWoS customers in 2026.

🧠 What’s Next?

Thursday brings PPI; Friday loads up with Retail Sales, Import Prices, Industrial Production, and Trump–Putin meeting. Rate cut odds remain the big market driver.

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But none of this news really matters to MaxDividends members. We're focused on growing the cash flow that lands in your pocket every month—not stressing over price swings or stock market noise.

At MaxDividends, we focus on a dividend growth strategy, perfect for investors seeking capital appreciation, solid safety, and a steadily growing income.

A rising dividend is a strong sign that a company is thriving—and wants its shareholders to thrive with it.

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This week, we’ve rolled out a fresh batch of ready-to-go Stock Sets 💪.

Easy Peasy #53: Pre-Selected Dividend Growth Stock Sets