Although the market got the month off to a strong start yesterday, the major indices spent the entire trading session in the negative. The Dow Jones was down more than 70 points early in the morning, but bounced back slightly to close at 10,636 for a loss of 38 points. The Nasdaq dropped 11 points, and the S&P slipped 5 points. Today’s economic news failed to encourage investors, as reports showed that consumer spending and income failed to increase in June, and that both factory orders and pending home sales fell in June. Corporate news was not much brighter, as major companies including Procter & Gamble (PG: Charts, News, Offers) and Dow Chemical (DOW: Charts, News, Offers) posted earnings which fell short of expectations. H

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At the close of trading yesterday, Healthcare Realty Trust declared its quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share, maintaining the amount paid to shareholders last quarter. Based on the current stock price, investors can expect a yield of about 4.9% going forward.

In afternoon trading, shares of Healthcare Realty were heading higher, gaining 1.5 percent.

In other dividend news, Plum Creek Timber maintained its quarterly dividend of 42 cents per share. And Centerpoint Energy maintained its quarterly dividend of 19.5 cents per share.

Among dividend increases, Leggett & Platt ( LEG – news – people ) announced its quarterly dividend of 27 cents per share, an increase of about 4% over its prior dividend in June of 26 cents.

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The Market Ticker

I put “Fraud” in quotation marks because, legally, it’s not – even though it should be:

By acquiring about a quarter of home-loan bonds with government-backed guarantees to bolster housing prices and the U.S. economy, the Fed helped make some securities so hard to find that Wall Street has been unable to complete an unprecedented amount of trades.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug 3, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) —

Linda Gaal has been named Director of Marketing for WordLogic Corporation (OTCQB: WLGC | PowerRating) (OTCBB:WLGC), reports WordLogic CEO Frank Evanshen. WordLogic Corporation is a leading-edge technology company developing advanced methods of text and information entry, advanced input, and refined search capabilities.

“Linda Gaal has a long, successful record in the marketing field,” says Mr. Evanshen. “She brings more than a decade of experience in strategic growth and brand visibility to WordLogic Corporation.”

Adds Mr. Evanshen, “Ms. Gaal’s strategic marketing responsibilities include growing WordLogic’s online presence in such social communities as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Yahoo Buzz.

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