WINDERMERE, Fla. (Stockpickr) — The old world economies are becoming relevant again on Wall Street. That’s right — the European debt crisis is slowly creeping back into the minds of market players.

On Tuesday, markets across the globe sold off sharply as borrowing rates for some of Europe’s most indebted nations rose to historic levels. The yield on 10-year Irish government bonds rose to 5.98%, which is higher than the price it reached in early May when the Greek debt crisis was front and center. Yields also jumped on Greek and Portuguese bonds as investors decided to sell now and ask questions later.

The renewed fears were sparked by a Wall Street Journal article that said Europe’s recent “stress test” of the strength of its biggest banks understated some lenders’ holdings of potentially risky government debt….

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BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) — The 2010 National Football League regular season kicks off tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. with a face-off between the Minnesota Vikings and the defending Super Bowl XLIV Champions, the New Orleans Saints. But this year, forget about fantasy football. With a handful of football-affiliated stocks, you could parlay the NFL’s big money into big gains for your portfolio.

Here’s a glimpse at four stocks primed to do just that.

While the connection between the NFL and investing might sound like a stretch, it’s not. With an average team value of $960 million, the NFL is the most valuable sports league in American sports, and savvy investors have been looking for ways to profit from that for decades. From dubious stock predictors such as the Super Bowl Indicator, which predicts whether the market will have a bullish or bearish year based on which team wins the Super Bowl, to Ari Gold-esque attempts at investing in NFL teams, everyone’s vying for a piece of the action….

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By Roberto Pedone

WINDERMERE, Florida (Stockpickr) — Market-players across the globe are closely watching the U.S. bond and stock markets to see which asset class is going to break out first in the near future. The S&P 500 has been trading range-bound since May between the levels of 1040 and 1130. Market bulls are hoping for a breakout above 1130 to signal that the bull market in stocks is back. A breakout in stocks would almost certainly lead to more money flowing out of bonds.

As for the bond market, if you take a look at the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund you will see that a breakout won’t occur until this ETF trades above $109 a share. With the TLT currently trading at around $105, you can see that a breakout for bonds isn’t far off. If bonds continue to see strength and even break out, it will mean the risk trade in equities will be taken off and stocks will most likely trade lower….

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BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) — The Labor Day market holiday provided traders with a break in momentum yesterday, cooling the volatility that had been tossing the stock market around in recent months. Indeed, the VIX Index, a measure of volatility, is down considerably since the beginning of September, a sign that stocks might start to stabilize as fall approaches. As expected, the economy continues to be a driver of share prices right now. While economic data held the market’s head under water for much of the last month, some positive indications suggest that we could be due for a turnaround this month.

One of those was the barrage of high profile M&A activity that popped up over the last few weeks. That level of corporate buying is predicated on the corporate view that market valuations are cheap right now. Likewise, with improvements seen in last week’s housing and jobs numbers, retail investors are becoming increasingly willing to part with “safety” investments such as gold and treasuries and get back into stocks.

We’ll do our part too, hoping to uncover some intraweek gains with the latest group of Rocket Stocks plays….

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BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) — Dividend yields continue to creep up in the second half of 2010, spurred on by strong earnings performance (and subsequent dividend increases) and equity prices that are under siege.

Of particular interest is the uptick in small-cap dividend hikes that last week brought. Of the seven companies that announced higher payouts to shareholders during the last full week of August, all but one had market caps of less than $2 billion. As companies of all shapes and sizes start passing more cash to shareholders, investors should find comfort in being bullish once again.

With that in mind, it’s time to take a closer look at few of the companies that announced dividend increases last week. Now is as good a time as ever for dividend plays, with yields as high as ever on some of the world’s most attractive stocks….

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