The major stock market indexes have been experiencing wild price swings since the beginning of this year due to the potential of multiple interest rate hikes this year and rising geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Given the surging market volatility, investing in stocks that offer a consistent flow of income through dividend payments could be one of the safest strategies.
The recently released Labor Department data shows a 7.5% year-on-year increase in consumer price index versus the Dow Jones estimate of 7.2%. This marks the highest since February 1982. The possibility of the Fed becoming more aggressive to combat the multi-decade high inflation might lead to further stock market volatility in the near term. According to BofA Securities’ U.S. head of equity and quantitative research, Savita Subramanian, “It’s going to be a year where we are shocked by the volatility.”
