Visa Inc. operates the world's largest electronic payments network, providing processing services and payment product platforms, including credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial payments, under the brands Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink, and PLUS. Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 200 countries and territories. Visa has around 31,000 employees, is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and, as of 2Q25, has 4.8 billion cards (debit and credit) in circulation. As of the end of 2024, over 80 million businesses accept Visa cards.

Was there a potential character change in the stock market on July 28? Stock futures were higher on news about the U.S. trade deal with the EU. But by the time the market opened, those gains had been cut down to size. And by the end of the day, stocks were pretty much flat. So what is the answer to our above question? We don't have enough evidence based on a slightly negative reaction to seemingly good new. In addition, the market was facing many important data points over next few weeks, so anxiety was sure to be a little heightened -- especially with the market so stretched from early April. Currently, one of the most frustrating markets is in the world of crypto. After hitting an intraday high of $123,220 on July 14, Bitcoin has gone sideways over the past 14 days, trading between $114,756 and $121,000. It has formed a small bullish wedge and bull flag and looked like it might either break out or break down a number of times. During the crypto currencies strong advance and last intermediate-term advance (in April and May 2025), price traced out three bullish flags that all lasted about 10 days. But not this time, as the waiting for this latest bull flag continues. Most of the other markets we follow have been surprisingly quiet in recent months (other than the continued strength in silver). Gold has gone nowhere in over three months, the 10-year Treasury yield is at the same level it was in September 2023, and crude oil (WTI) is at the same level it was going back to March 2023. Meanwhile, several bearish market developments have popped up, one of which we have talked about previously. The VIX Volatility Index appears to be tracing out a bullish wedge and it rose after hitting the lower trendline of the pattern. As well, the U.S. Dollar Index may finally be bottoming, something we have been expecting, and that could be a headwind for large, multinational stocks. Finally, the 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) CBOE equity-only put/call ratio has started to rise -- and that has a history, if it continues, of being bearish.

Visa is the largest payment processor in the world. In fiscal 2024, it processed almost $16 trillion in total volume. Visa operates in over 200 countries and processes transactions in over 160 currencies. Its systems are capable of processing over 65,000 transactions per second.

Dividend income is often overlooked amid gyrations in the stock market. Consider that in 2024, market bulls were boasting about 24%-plus S&P 500 returns. No one was very focused on the broad market index's 1.2% dividend yield. But dividends are an important element of return, and 2025 is bearing that out. Through May, the S&P 500 was up a thin 1.1%; without dividends, there was essentially no returns at all. Indeed, dividend income accounted for 42% of the total return of the S&P 500 between 1930 and 2012, according to Hartford Funds. And that's just the average. In some of those decades, dividends accounted for more than 50% of total returns and even 100% of returns. More recently, dividends have accounted for a smaller portion of returns, at around 15%-20%. Not for nothing, in 2022, dividend payments softened the blow when most market indices turned bearish as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates. We saw that pattern in 2018 as well. Not all dividends are created equal, though, and it is important to understand the difference between the two main investment categories: high-yield stocks and dividend-growth stocks.