We've talked before about the amount of cash that many American corporations are sitting on these days. One benefit of this for investors is that dividend payments have turned surprisingly strong. Among the companies that make up the S&P 500, a hefty 241 of them have increased their dividends this year, while only three have cut them.
As a result, dividend payments to shareholders have increased by roughly $29 billion this year, according to Standard & Poor's. It wasn't so long ago that that figure was moving in the opposite direction. Two years ago, between January and August of 2009, the S&P 500 companies dropped their dividends by a collective $41 billion.
Even after all those payouts, the 500 S&P companies are still sitting on more than a trillion dollars in cash and short-term investments. They can easily afford those dividend payments, and a lot more.
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