The U.S. market is exhibiting heightened volatility amid inflationary pressures and the Fed’s interest rate hikes. This is evident in the CBOE Volatility Index’s 46.1% year-to-date gains. Furthermore, a solid May jobs report eliminated expectations of a pause in the central bank’s aggressive policy tightening. “It's telling us the economy is in fairly good shape, which is good news, but when viewed in the context of what it means for the Federal Reserve and tightening monetary policy, it likely makes them more confident they can continue to tighten," said Shawn Snyder, head of the investment strategy at Citi Personal Wealth Management.
Given the market fluctuations and rising investor’ worries, investors are likely to invest in attractive, dividend-paying stocks to hedge their portfolios. Indeed, the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV) has gained 2.2% over the past month.
