IT'S STILL A BULL MARKET IN CIGARETTES

Despite weak job numbers, weak earnings, and recent stock market weakness, today's chart says it's still a bull market in cigarettes.

We often poke fun at faddish investment ideas like solar and wind stocks. Instead of chasing these ideas, we say focus long-term investment in dominant businesses with fat profit margins and excellent brand names. Focus on stocks like the world's biggest cigarette maker, Altria (MO).

We've written bullishly about cigarette comanies many times in DailyWealth (check out a few pieces here and here). While it's easy to understand Marlboro's incredible brand power, most people don't understand the government loves it when folks buy Altria cigarettes. The government is even more addicted to the huge taxes it collects from Altria than Altria's customers are addicted to its product.

This addiction produces the chart you see below… the past 12-month's action in Altria shares. While stocks around the world have sold off in the past week, Altria has climbed to a new 52-week high, all the while kicking off huge dividend payments.