4 Stocks That Have Declared Dividend Hikes Amid Market Volatility

In This Article:

The post-election Wall Street rally has come to a halt as investors reassess the economy’s health and gauge the Federal Reserve’s pace of future rate cuts. The uncertainty has seen markets turn volatile over the past week, with all three major indexes retreating from their new record highs.

Given this situation, cautious investors looking for a steady income and safeguarding their capital may look to hold or buy dividend-paying stocks. Four such stocks are Churchill Downs Incorporated CHDN, La-Z-Boy Incorporated LZB, McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC and Assurant, Inc. AIZ.

Inflation Rises Halting Wall Street Rally

Stocks rallied for two weeks after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential election, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting news milestones. The Dow closed above $44,000 for the first time early last week, while the S&P 500 crossed the 6,000 mark. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also hit an individual high.

However, investors’ sentiment took a hit after the release of fresh data, which showed that inflation rose in October. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% month over month in October and 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. October’s monthly inflation reading was up 0.2% from September. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3% month over month and 3.3% from the year-ago levels.

Stocks have pulled back from their previous highs due to increasing worries about the economy’s stability. While inflation has eased significantly in the past year, it remains above the Fed's 2% target, which may lead the central bank to reconsider its plans for future rate cuts.

The current market volatility is also being driven by concerns that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of its rate cuts going forward. Since September, the Fed has slashed interest rates by 75 basis points, bringing its benchmark rate to a range of 4.5-4.75%. However, last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank does not need to "hurry" into cutting rates as long as the economic data supports such a move.

4 Stocks That Announced Dividend Hikes

Given this situation, investing in dividend-paying stocks would be a smart decision. These companies have stable operations and consistently pay out dividends, staying profitable due to their reliable business models. In a volatile market, companies that offer high dividend payouts generally perform better than those that don't pay dividends.

Churchill Downs Incorporated

Churchill Downs Incorporated the world's most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America's greatest race, the Kentucky Derby. CHDN has Five racetracks; Six casinos; Big Fish Games, the world's largest distributor of casual games; The country's leading online wagering business, TwinSpires.com; A video poker business, A multi-state network of off-track betting facilities; and a collection of racing-related data, totalisator and telecommunication Churchill Downs presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Waiting for permission
Allow microphone access to enable voice search

Try again.