Stock futures have risen early Friday as investors awaited the jobs report for March. However, in Thursday's trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.56%, closing the first negative quarter for stocks in two years, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.57% and 1.54%, respectively.
The global financial market has faced a volatile month as energy prices rose owing to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which weighed on equities and government bond yields. The CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) has gained 17% year-to-date. A CNBC Delivering Alpha investor survey found that as investors face heightened uncertainty due to the Fed’s rate hike cycles, most would like to bet on high dividend stocks, as dividends generally offer investors a way of generating income during uncertainty.
