From Nasdaq:

Stocks suffered their first 1% decline of the year, a hint of potential volatility. It’s essential for investors to understand how to handle market turbulence. Long-term investors should stay the course while active ones should lower their position size and get off margin, monitor moving average slope, and gravitate towards lower beta stocks.

Long-term or retirement investors should understand that volatility is a part of the market but should stick to the plan. Active traders may want to lessen their position size, stop trading, and invest in low-beta stocks. The 50-day moving average slope can help active traders alleviate many headaches and assure they trade in sync with the trend.

Active traders should avoid overtrading when the moving average is flat or trending down. However, they can ride the bull trend when the slope is higher. It’s also best to move towards low-beta stocks as they tend to be more stable and less risky during volatile market conditions.

Tobacco giant Altria, with a low beta of 0.66, is just one example of stable stocks. The stock is less volatile than the S&P 500 Index due to the consistent demand for cigarettes. Other low beta stocks include retail giants Dollar General, Walmart, and Costco Wholesale.

The news you’ve been waiting for: Zacks provides a free report on an AI stock set to have an economic impact of $15.7 trillion. Another report features 4 “must buys.” Interested readers can download the free report today. Additionally, Zacks provides free stock analysis reports for Walmart, Dollar General, Altria Group, and Costco Wholesale.

As the stock market fluctuates, it becomes clear that volatility is an inherent aspect of investing. To mitigate the impact, some crucial measures include understanding your investment time frame, decreasing position size, ensuring the market is trending upwards, and investing in stable, low-beta stocks.



Read more: Volatility Ahead? 3 Ways to Tame it