Stock markets slid lower today without much of a driver to lead them. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.06%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.22%) have both fallen a substantial 0.53% late in trading, having recovered somewhat from this morning's far heavier losses.
Data showed that mortgage applications fell 8.8% last week as refinancing dropped. Interest rates were up slightly this week, so the drop in refinancing shouldn't be a surprise. However, it should be encouraging that 3% more people filed for new mortgages, which will help drive the housing market.
In company-specific news, Procter & Gamble (PG 0.86%) is seeing some of the shine of A. G. Lafley's return wear off today: Its stock is down 2.4%. This is why Foolish investors don't buy into hyped news items like the firing of a CEO or an analyst upgrade or downgrade. The market soon forgets about these stories, and a bounce like P&G experienced last week can wear off quickly. The market may be down on the stock today, but P&G has a wide moat around many of its consumer products, and investors get a 2.9% dividend yield, which is better than the 10-year Treasury. This isn't a growth company by any means, but it's still a good stock for income investors with low-risk portfolios.
The sell-off in telecom stocks continued today, with Verizon (VZ 0.88%) falling 2.3% and AT&T (T 1.30%) down 0.6%. Google's Fiber product gained headlines yesterday, putting pressure on both stocks, and Verizon investors are still worried that the company will have to overpay for the 45% of Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone.
Again, it's important to keep the long-term trends in perspective when stocks like this fall. Both Verizon and AT&T are adding customers to their vast wireless networks, and there's little chance smaller players like Sprint and T-Mobile will penetrate their market dominance. Even if Google Fiber is a success, it will take a decade or more to build out the scale Google needs, and Verizon and AT&T will both be able to respond and profit in the meantime. To top it off, investors get a 4% dividend yield from Verizon stock and a 4.9% yield from AT&T stock -- both outstanding dividends.
