The rest of the world is going to help U.S. consumer product manufacturers next year. Look for international growth to push the likes of Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Avon (AVP) and Clorox (CLX) higher in 2010, according to Fitch Ratings. In an interview with Reuters, a director gave the Fitch's outlook for consumer goods.

The household and personal care segments increased revenue every year from 2003 to 2008. So, 2009 was but a bump in the road. Even in a recession, you need toilet paper and shampoo, so expect the spending to come back.

"One way to build an inflation hedge into your investment cash flows is to focus on stocks that are likely to boost their dividends on a regular basis," explains dividend specialist Chuck Carlson.

In his The DRIP Investor, which focuses on blue chip companies offering dividend reinvestment programs, he notes, "Since dividends are paid with cold cash, they can't be faked. Either you pay the dividend or you don't. They can't be some figment of accounting magic." Here, he looks at three favorite blue chips with strong dividend records.

Over this past weekend, Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) announced that its once-bustling Indiana toothpaste, shaving cream and cleansers factory would be closing its doors for good a few days before Christmas.

While the factory's closing is not news to the remaining 115-200 employees still working there, according to Juanita Sneed, president of Local 15C of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, many of the remaining employees are still "struggling with the finality" of the eventual closing. It will hit home particularly hard since the closing will fall so close to Christmas.

The company first announced plans of the closing back in October 2005 and now says that the final closing will take place in two to three weeks. The factory, at its peak in the 1960s, employed as many as 1,500 workers. Its recent hourly wage was around $22.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) and Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) all reported strong results today because the weak dollar has made their products attractive to consumers overseas.

Net income at Procter & Gamble rose 14% to $3.08 billion, or 92 cents a share, compared with $2.7 million, or 79 cents, a year earlier. Revenue surged 7.5% to $20.5 billion. Excluding a tax-benefit, profit was 90 cents. Analysts had expected profit of 89 cents on revenue of $20.23 billion. P&G expects profit for the current quarter of between 95 to 97 cents; Wall Street expectations are for 97 cents. The company raised its full year outlook by 2 cents to $3.46 to $3.49 to reflect a one-time tax benefit.

"The fiscal year is off to a good start," said A.G. Lafley, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, in the earnings release. "P&G continues to deliver broad-based top and bottom-line growth across its portfolio of businesses and geographies. This momentum, along with a robust initiative pipeline for the year, gives us confidence that P&G will deliver another strong year of growth."

Shares of P&G, which are up about 12% this year, fell in pre-market action.

As discussed, with the markets in a choppy/consolidation mode (or perhaps worse), the consumer product sector has appeal as a defensive strategy, and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is worth a review.

Colgate's restructuring is working, and Wall Street expects 2007/2008 results to show it. In late 2004, CL initiated a 4-year cost reduction program including a +10% workforce reduction, new product roll-outs, an emphasis on larger-growth markets, and the more-adept deployment of marketing resources.

The results to-date? The CL train is on-time, with analysts generally seeing low-double-digit annual revenue growth through at least 2008, and probably longer. An eye-opening stat -- Colgate is an enhanced, consumer products defensive play: 65% of CL's revenue stems from personal, oral and home care sales outside North America. Hence, even if U.S. consumer goods sales slump badly (which is not likely) CL can look for international consumer product operations to support results. The Reuters F2007/F2008 revenue consensus estimates for CL are $13.5 billion / $14.4 billion. Colgate's shares Tuesday afternoon traded 23 cents higher to $73.18

In yet another case of product contamination, Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) has discovered counterfeit packages of its Colgate-brand toothpaste on the shelves of discount stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

A statement noted that, "There are indications that this product does not contain fluoride and may contain [poisonous chemical] diethylene glycol." So . . . it won't clean your teeth, but it might make you sick or worse. Lose-lose.

Diethylene Glycol, used as a solvent and in antifreeze, has been "improperly used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin and propylene glycol in pharmaceutical preparations," according to a June 8 statement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Certain toothpastes imported from China in recent weeks have been found to contain the potentially deadly substitute ingredient; the FDA is advising consumers to discard any toothpaste labeled as made in China.

Fortunately, there is clue for any concerned residents of the targeted states. The impostor Colgate tubes are labeled "Manufactured in South Africa" -- but CL does not import toothpaste into the U.S. Proving that criminals aren't always masterminds, the fake tubes have also been found to contain misspellings, such as the "South African Dental Assoxiation" or "SOUTH AFRLCA."

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.