The 7 Best Dividend Aristocrats To Buy With Recession Risk This High

Summary

• Investor concerns about a potential recession and bear market are at the highest levels in a decade. The media is constantly hyping the idea that a recession is imminent.
• However, the truth is that only some parts of the economy are being hurt by the trade war, primarily manufacturing, mining and agriculture.
• Services are doing fine, consumer spending is strong and the job creation remains steady and at levels that point to falling unemployment and gradually accelerating wage growth.
• The bond market believes 12-month recession risk is about 45%, which means that even with no trade deal there is a 55% probability of no recession in 2020.
• ABBV, MO, FRT and WBA are the best defensive dividend aristocrats and kings to buy ahead of a possible recession, while XOM, MMM and CAT are the best undervalued cyclical ones that will likely soar if we avoid one.
• Looking for a helping hand in the market? Members of The Dividend Kings get exclusive ideas and guidance to navigate any climate. Get started today »

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Due to reader requests, I've decided to break up my weekly "Best Dividend Stocks To Buy This Week" series into two parts.

One will be the weekly watchlist article (with the best ideas for new money at any given time). The other will be a portfolio update.

To also make those more digestible, I'm breaking out the intro for the weekly series into a revised introduction and reference article on the 3 rules for using margin safely and profitably (which will no longer be included in those future articles).

To minimize reader confusion, I will be providing portfolio updates on a rotating tri-weekly schedule. This means an update every three weeks on:

• My retirement portfolio (where I keep 100% of my life savings).
• The best dividend and aristocrats to buy now (for four kinds of investing goals) including the best opportunistic buys based on F.A.S.T. Graphs.
• My new "What I'm Buying Next" series, which explains what companies are on my immediate buy watchlist from which I make all weekly retirement portfolio buys.

I've also decided to remove the "Why Valuation ALWAYS Matters" intro to this series since that makes it more cumbersome to read for loyal followers of this series.

The Cure For Recession Fears Is Facts

The US economy is a complex beast that is

• $21.4 trillion in size (and connected to a $90 trillion global economy that's even more complex)
• driven by the spending decisions of 330 million Americans (about 70% of all US GDP growth is consumer spending)
• the investment decisions of thousands of large corporations
• the investment decisions of 30.2 million small businesses

At any given time businesses are being born while others are dying. Let's consider the famous monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which just came out for August.

Analyst’s Disclosure:I am/we are long ABBV, MO, WBA, MMM, CAT. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.