Following upbeat retail sales data, Dow futures live ticker jumps 80 points. Consumer confidence readings later today could further shape intraday market direction. Income-minded investors often forget that there's more to picking dividend stocks than just tracking down tickers with high dividend yields. You may be buying into a new position with strong payouts, but if those dividend payments don't grow much (if any) from one year to the next, you'll soon be losing ground to inflation. Silver prices continue to diverge from gold prices, with gold futures falling 0.2% Wednesday. Dow futures live ticker is threading higher amid speculation of policy easing in China, which could boost US corporate export revenues and drive global equity optimism.