Published on 3 Apr 2024 on Zacks via Yahoo Finance
3 Stocks to Watch That Recently Announced Dividend Hikes
The U.S. stock market had a solid first quarter, with all three major indexes hitting new record highs. The S&P rallied 10.2% to record the best first quarter since 2019. The Dow finished the quarter up 5.6%, while the Nasdaq rallied 9.1%.
Also, optimism surrounding rate cuts is high after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged in its current range of 5.25-5.5% in its March FOMC meeting and said that it still plans three interest rate cuts of a quarter percentage point each by the end of this year.
However, markets also turned volatile over the past three months as inflation, which declined sharply over the past year, rose in the first two months of 2024.