There was a time when some of the most popular publicly traded companies, such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), did not pay dividends.

Stocks began November with a rally. It wasn't a big rally, but it was good enough that big-cap stocks mostly finished higher for the week.

Airlines, utilities, financials and industrial stocks fueled the rally. Energy shares were hurt by crude oil's lowest closing price since June 21. Materials shares moved lower as gold and silver prices slid.

More than likely, anyone reading this article knows about the basic ratios for investing such as price-to-earnings and debt-to-equity, among others.

Piers Morgan was replacing some big shoes when he stepped in at CNN, Ted Turner's brainchild and current Time Warner (NYSE:TWC) subsidiary. The results have been mixed, but Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) has helped keep his name and brand alive.

After the US Federal Reserve opted to maintain its bond buying plan but hinted that a taper could come sooner rather than later, investors turned back to US data for fresh clues about the bank's timeline. Investors will likely continue to focus on US data for signs of stability which would indicated that the world's largest economy is ready to stand on its own.

Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) reports their 3Q13 earnings on Thursday, November 7th with a call at 2:00pm PT.

According to the BZ Pro Calendar, the average Q3 EPS estimate is 0.01. Q3 prior estimate is 0.03. The revenue estimate is reported at $616.13 million. The Calendar reports a $568.55 million prior revenue estimate.

Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) latest tablet is lighter, thinner and faster -- and retails for the same price as last year's model.

Starting at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and $629 for the same unit with cellular service, the iPad Air is easily the most irresistible full-size tablet released in 2013.

Small cap companies that pay a significant dividend are few and far between.

These companies have an ex date (the date by which you need to own the company to receive the dividend) in November, an annual dividend yield greater than 5.5 percent and a market capitalization between 200 and 600 million:

China may have the world's largest number of internet users, close to 600 million -- but that is only 44 percent internet penetration compared to United States' 81 percent. And analysts agree there is tremendous room for growth, as the number of internet-users in China increase rapidly.

America's spice industry is nothing to sneeze at.