Wall Street’s ability to scale upward is currently dependent on support from the Fed and the Trump administration. To make matters worse, fresh coronavirus threats to economic revival have emerged lately. In the United States, coronavirus infection rates have started to climb, dealing a blow to Wall Street in the past week that followed an unprecedent market bounce back from the March lows.

 

Notably, new coronavirus cases notched a fresh record in the United States on Jun 26 of more than 45,000 cases that easily surpassed the record 39,972 cases reported on Jun 25, per Johns Hopkins University. What’s more, an uptick in hospitalization and deaths, especially in the southern and western states of the United States, has now threatened to stall both business and social activities that were completely frozen for months to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

 

On Jun 26, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to shut down all bars in the state and limit restaurants’ capacity. Further, any kind of outdoor activities, including tubing and rafting, have been restricted. In Florida, consumption of alcohol has been banned at bars. Needless to say, coronavirus cases have been increasing among people between the ages of 22 and 44 in such states. Texas recently reported 6,426 new coronavirus cases, while Florida reported more than 8,900.

 

Now, many experts are saying that this spike in infections may not be a “second wave,” but they still believe that the first wave is continuing and has the potential to make the stock market more volatile in the near future.

 

At the same time, a couple of issues are threatening the stock market’s rally. The National Bureau of Economic Research has stated that the United States plunged into recession in February. It comes as no surprise that the coronavirus outbreak played a huge part in dragging down economic growth in the month, before dealing a massive blow in March. And historically, in all the previous recessions since 1950, it took a pretty long time, almost 30 months, for all who lost their jobs to get employed again. To top it, now is the time for quarter-end rebalancing. Due to recession, investors have started to take more money out of stocks and park them in bonds, and other asset classes. For instance, its estimated that pension funds will move $75 billion out of stocks this week.

 

 

As markets remain disturbed, investing in stocks that provide excellent risk-adjusted returns seems judicious. The best way to go about doing this is by creating a portfolio of low-beta stocks, which are inherently less volatile than the markets they trade in. In this case, a low beta ranges from 0 to 1.

 

These stocks are also dividend payers which boast immense financial strength and are immune to market vagaries. Such stocks reflect solid financial structure, healthy underlying fundamentals and superior-quality business. Further, they boast a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).

 

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV Quick QuoteABBV - Free Report) discovers, develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceuticals. The Zacks Rank #2 company has a beta of 0.85. Its current dividend yield is 4.9%. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next quarter and current year is 17.6% and 17.9%, respectively.

 

BG Foods, Inc. (BGS Quick QuoteBGS - Free Report) manufactures, sells, and distributes a portfolio of shelf-stable and frozen foods, and household products. The Zacks Rank #1 company has a beta of 0.25. Its current dividend yield is 7.8%. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next quarter and current year is 25.9% and 31.1%, respectively.

 

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM Quick QuoteAEM - Free Report) is involved in exploration activities in Europe, Latin America and the United States. The Zacks Rank #2 company has a beta of 0.73. Its current dividend yield is 1.3%. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next quarter and current year is 35.1% and 53.6%, respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (EBMT Quick QuoteEBMT - Free Report) operates as the bank holding company for Opportunity Bank of Montana that provides various retail banking products and services in Montana. The Zacks Rank #2 company has a beta of 0.69. Its current dividend yield is 2.3%. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 10.8%.

 

Carriage Services, Inc. (CSV Quick QuoteCSV - Free Report) provides funeral and cemetery services, and merchandise in the United States. The Zacks Rank #1 company has a beta of 0.84. Its current dividend yield is 1.7%. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next quarter and current year is 17.9% and 16.7%, respectively.

 

 

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

 

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.