Markets are still volatile.

Inflation is high.  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine doesn’t look like its ending soon. NATO is massing troops and warships on the border or Russia.  There’s fear of a potential recession.  Oil prices are gushing higher, etc.  And investors are terrified.

So, it just makes sense for investors to get far more defensive.

That doesn’t mean you should sell everything, and run from the market.  In fact, that’s the last thing you should ever do, with markets as resilient as they are.  Instead, what you want to do is find companies that aren’t greatly impacted by war, and can weather inflationary threats.

With that, investors should invest in safer stocks, such as utilities.

After all, utility stocks provide a basic need or service.  If you own a home, for example, you certainly need electricity or natural gas, right?  With demand for those services remaining steady, stocks associated with them are considered to be safer than most.

In Triple Play Income for example, the team has been trading stocks, like Southern Co.

“Utility stocks in general have been trading higher based on rising energy costs and Southern Co. is no exception. We really like their position as they continue their transition into nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy sources,” they note.

Making the stock even more attractive, SO carries a dividend yield of 3.81%.

Even better, for more than 70 years, Southern Company has paid a dividend to its shareholders that is equal to or greater than the previous quarter, says the company.

Markets

The Dow is up 89 points to 34,693

The S&P 500 is up 15 points to 4,527.50

The NASDAQ is up 52 points to 14,816

Gold prices are down $3.44 to $1,956.18

Bitcoin is up 4.66% to $44,822.12

Oil prices are down $2.71 to $109.60

The VIX is up slightly to 21.68

Trade Idea of the Day

Semiconductor stocks are on the move.

Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Micron, Marvell, NVIDIA…

All moved higher yesterday, and could push even higher.

That’s happening after the CEOs of Micron Technology and Lam Research are urging the U.S. government to allocate as much as $52 billion for American chipmaking.  China “is investing more than $100 billion supporting their semiconductor industry,” Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said, as quoted by Nikkei Asia. “And hence, it is extremely important that U.S. does play catch-up with CHIPS Act, with investment tax credits.”

Also, the shortage issue isn’t ending any time soon.

“The demand for semiconductor chips continues to grow globally, outpacing supply constraints in a global market that has been hit hard by pandemic-driven supply chain woes. Now, ASML, the keystone producer of the lithography machines used to make advanced semiconductor chips, has said that it anticipates a two-year shortage for the industry due to shortages of necessary parts for its machines,” says the Financial Times.

Look at AMD, for example.

If the stock can break above prior resistance around $125, it could break out and test its next line of resistance around $132.