What I am seeing is disconcerting. As the second issue of the Income Investment Report prepares to launch and the stocks that fill its pages are added, I am seeing only the occasional position that I want to own.

Much of what is cropping up consists of companies that have gotten beaten down spectacularly and are preparing for hard times. The problem here is that, outside of a basic initial cut (looking at companies with dividends greater than 5%), I do not check the yield after that. Everything else is based on a combination of fundamentals disconnected from yield.

And what is creeping to the surface is still offal.

But what is more interesting is the number of well connected financial companies (insurance, investment, etcetera) which are raising as much cash as they can.

This is not the rosy type of behavior I hope for after an entire industry gets taken at the knees, down 20-30% in 90 days. This looks like preparing for more hurt.

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