Stocks closed mixed on Thursday in a choppy session driven by conflicting corporate earnings reports and a murky picture of the health of the U.S. economy.
Strong income from caterpillar (CAT (opens in a new tab)+7.8%) helped the Dow Jones Industrial AverageWe end the day in the green, up 0.6% to close at 32,036. But a disappointing revenue forecast from parent Facebook Metaplatforms (META (opens in a new tab)-24.6%) after Wednesday’s close weighed on the Nasdaq Compound. The technology index fell 1.6% to end at 10,792. The largest S&P500meanwhile, split the difference somewhat, closing 0.6% at 3,807.
Markets quickly rallied a better than expected third quarter gross domestic product reading (opens in a new tab). The US economy rebounded from two consecutive quarters of contraction to grow at an annual rate of 2.6% in the third quarter. That beat economists’ estimates for annualized growth of 2.4%.
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The optimism was short-lived, however, as the underlying elements of the GDP report suggested that an economic slowdown remains the most likely scenario (opens in a new tab) in 2023.
The Best Dividend Stocks You Can Rely On
Thursday’s session was full of twists and turns, and this should remind investors that heightened volatility remains the order of the day. Shares had soared since mid-October on encouraging third-quarter earnings reports. Since it was supposed to be the worst earning season (opens in a new tab) Since the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the market’s optimism that reports turned out brighter than expected made sense. But lackluster results from mega-cap tech companies parent Google Alphabet (GOOGL (opens in a new tab)) and cloud computing giant Microsoft (MSFT (opens in a new tab)) earlier this week ended the good feelings. The meta-platformers only added to the austere vibe. With Amazon.co.uk (AMZN (opens in a new tab)) and Apple (AAPL (opens in a new tab)) is expected to report after Thursday’s closing bell, tomorrow’s session could be a real doozy.
Fortunately, investors looking to smooth their returns during turbulent times have several options. Low Volatility Exchange Traded Funds (opens in a new tab) are an easy and cheap way to hold a diversified portfolio of stocks that tend to hold up better when the market is selling off. Dividend payers in defensive sectors, such as best consumer staple stocks (opens in a new tab) or the best Dow dividend stocks (opens in a new tab), will also be very helpful to patient investors. People who can sustain really long horizons can’t go wrong with the crème de la crème of dividend growth stocks. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is an index of companies that have increased their payments for at least 25 consecutive years. Heck, two of the components have extended their streaks in the past two days alone. Take a look at 65 best dividend stocks (opens in a new tab) you can count on reliable and growing dividends.