Earnings stability rating

Among apparel stocks, most don't pay a dividend.
Of those that do, the top-rated stock is VF Corp. (VFC)
The North Carolina-based company, which is No. 18 in the Big Cap 20, holds a slew of well-known brand names, including Wrangler, Lee, JanSport, The North Face and Timberland.
Over the years, VF has grown through acquisitions. For example, Lee was acquired in 1969, JanSport and Wrangler in 1986, The North Face in 2000 and Timberland in 2011.
Last year's $2.3 billion buyout of Timberland was VF's largest ever, and expanded VF's footprint in the outdoor clothing space.
In a New America article in March, Cowen & Co. analyst John Kernan told IBD that VF "could be poised to make another acquisition in the back half of this year."
The analyst believes the acquisition "will be focused in outdoor active sports, and we think it will be a major international brand, probably in Europe."
VF derives about two-thirds of its revenue from the U.S. The balance is from Europe, Canada, Asia, Mexico and Latin America.

High dividend yield stocks

To cope with current sluggish GDP growth, some managers focus on high dividend yield stocks. Not Fidelity's Jason Weiner.
"I'm way more focused on the growth side of things," said the helmsman of $1.1 billion Growth Discovery Fund .
Sixteen of his 157 holdings were in the IBD 50 going into Tuesday. Six were on IBD's Leaderboard.
Even his stake in Apple (AAPL), which made a high-profile announcement in March about a share buyback program and resuming its dividend, is mainly for the sake of growth.
"Its yield is nothing to write home about," Weiner said. "But you're getting good growth at a modest P-E."
Its 1.8% yield is shy of the S&P 500 tech sector's 1.84% average. The entire S&P 500's dividend payers average 2.45%.
One key Apple driver is the iPhone 4S, which is on sale in more than 100 nations, including China.
Also unlike many competitors, Weiner didn't use the Q1 market sell-off to add to names he likes. Rather, he traded less.

Funds that invest primarily in the U.S

Investors pulled $9.62 billion from stock funds in March, even as the market rose.
It was well off February's inflow of $1.38 billion, which was revised from an outflow of $1.19 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute. February's inflow had ended a nine-month outflow streak.
Signs pointed to smaller net redemptions this month.
Funds that invest primarily in the U.S. disgorged $11.63 billion last month. They took out $1.66 billion in February. In March the S&P 500 rose 3.13%, continuing a run-up begun in late November.
Stock funds that invest primarily overseas took in $2.02 billion from investors vs. $3.03 the month before. During the month, the MSCI EAFE index fell 0.91%, while the dollar rose 0.44%.
Year to date, stock funds gave back $8.64 billion vs. inflow of $32.01 billion in the year-earlier period.
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, had inflow of $6.37 billion vs. $8.42 billion the previous month. For the year to date, hybrid funds took in $23.19 billion vs. $18.86 billion a year earlier.

The stock has rebounded

Stocks got a leg up Thursday as investors, faced with mixed economic data, focused more on the good news — strong home sales — and shrugged off the bad — higher-than-expected initial jobless claims.
Pending home sales jumped by a much-better-than-expected 4% in March. Economists had expected a 0.5% gain. New jobless claims fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000 last week, worse than forecasts for 375,000.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.9%, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 each gained 0.7%.
Volume climbed 5% on the Nasdaq but fell 4% on the NYSE, according to preliminary data.
Equinix (EQIX) surged 13% in fast turnover. Late Wednesday, the provider of high-performance data centers said first-quarter EPS increased 34% to 71 cents, crushing forecasts for 49 cents. Revenue grew 25% to $452 million. The stock has rebounded off its 10-week moving average to a new high after making its first pullback to that level since a breakout in January.

Growth deceleration

Stocks traded near their session highs in late-afternoon action Thursday, scoring solid gains after being up just modestly earlier.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 1%, the Nasdaq rose 0.8% and the S&P 500 gained 0.7%. Turnover continued to track down from Wednesday's level for the NYSE, but turned higher for the Nasdaq.
Leading stocks generally were faring well. Within the IBD 50, more than 40 stocks were up. As earnings season keeps rolling, a number of leading stocks were making big moves on their quarterly reports.
Equinix (EQIX) surged 12% in fast turnover. Late Wednesday, the provider of high-performance data centers said first-quarter EPS increased 34% to 71 cents, crushing forecasts for 49 cents. Revenue grew 25% to $452 million. The stock has rebounded off its 10-week moving average to a new high after making its first pullback to that level since a breakout in January.

Economic growth slows

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose Thursday after disappointing data on jobless claims fueled worries about slowing U.S. economic growth, which would hold down inflation and keep alive the chances of more bond purchases from the Federal Reserve.
Weaker-than-expected European economic figures stoked fears that the region is entering a recession and compounded safe-haven bids for U.S. government debt, analysts and traders said.
"We've seen a deterioration in data in the U.S. and Europe. That's keeping a bid for Treasuries," said Jason Brady, portfolio manager at Santa Fe, N.M.-based Thornburg Investment Management, which oversees $82 billion in assets.
Benchmark 10-year notes last traded up 11/32 in price for a yield of 1.95%, down 4 basis points on the day. They were up as much as 16/32 with a 1.93% yield, helped partly on safety bidding on persistent worries about contagion risk from the euro zone debt crisis.

If your company has pay ranges

The U.S. continues to add jobs, even if at a snail's pace, and pay raises are slowly becoming more common.
Saving more is a regular strategy for pumping up retirement accounts. As the economy improves, you should also look for ways to boost your pay.
Aon Hewitt, human resource consultant and outsourcer, projects U.S. pay hikes will average 2.9% this year.
In 2009, 48% of firms froze workers' pay. By last year that was down to 5%. Aon Hewitt expects that to drop again this year.
"Pay raises are no longer extremely rare," said John Challenger, CEO of outplacement consulting firm Challenger Gray. "But the old, routine 4% annual increase is not back yet either. If you want a pay raise, you've got to go after it."