📅 On This Day
America's First IPO Ignites 'Scrippomania' on Independence Day
On July 4, 1791, subscription rights for shares of the First Bank of the United States went on sale at $25 each — the largest public offering the young nation had ever seen. Those scrips rocketed past $300 in Philadelphia by mid-August, drawing in merchants and congressmen alike before the bubble burst in the Panic of 1792. That crash ultimately drove 24 brokers to sign the Buttonwood Agreement, the founding document of what would become the New York Stock Exchange.
A $25 scrip, a speculative frenzy, and a crash that accidentally built Wall Street — all on the Fourth of July.
🇺🇸 US
Source: Federal Reserve History; NY Fed
🌍 Around the World
Brazil Offers Rare Zero Withholding on Dividends for Foreign Investors
Brazilian dividends arrive gross — no withholding tax deducted for non-residents, making ADRs like VALE, PBR, ITUB, and BBD among the more tax-efficient foreign holdings available to U.S. investors in any account type. The catch worth knowing: many Brazilian companies also distribute cash as juros sobre capital próprio (JCP), a separate mechanism that carries a 15% withholding rate. Two payments from the same company, labeled differently, can land in your account taxed very differently.
In an IRA, Brazilian dividends lose nothing to withholding — but JCP payments do, with no way to recover it.
🇧🇷 BR
Source: PwC Tax Summaries
🔥 Dividend Streak
Sysco Has Fed America's Restaurants Since 1969 — Quietly
When John Baugh persuaded eight fellow food distributors to merge in 1969, the resulting company — named from Systems and Services Company — had combined sales of roughly $115 million. Today Sysco is the largest foodservice distributor in North America, an invisible thread running through nearly every restaurant meal. That quiet dominance has supported 55 consecutive years of dividend increases, with the streak stretching back to 1971.
Most diners have eaten Sysco food constantly without ever knowing the name — and shareholders have been rewarded for it.
SYY — Sysco Corporation
Source: Wikipedia; FundingUniverse Company Histories
💡 Did You Know
Stanley Black & Decker Has Paid Dividends Every Year Since 1877
SWK's dividend record dates to 1877 — before the commercial light bulb existed, before the Dow Jones Industrial Average was conceived, and before the Federal Reserve was founded. The toolmaker has since added 59 consecutive years of increases to that unbroken payment history, earning it Dividend King status. Every recession, panic, and crisis since the Reconstruction era has come and gone without interrupting the streak.
A dividend record that predates the light bulb is the kind of history that makes compounding feel almost tangible.
SWK — Stanley Black & Decker Inc
🇺🇸 US
Source: Stanley Black & Decker Investor Relations; Dividend Power