5 ‘Strong Buy’ Dividend Stocks With High Upside

The markets are looking perilous right now, with rising trade tensions and Federal Reserve uncertainty sparking heavy selling. While there has been a flight out of stocks generally - Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is off almost 6% over the past five days - dividend stocks are gaining a little appeal.

Investors were caught off guard after the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point. Some were expecting a half-point cut, and others were expecting Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to signal another quarter-point cut later in the year (he didn't). Then America's trade war with China flared up after President Donald Trump threatened a new round of tariffs, which the Chinese replied to by cutting off imports of U.S. agricultural products and momentarily letting its yuan currency slip above a key level.

Dividend stocks can help smooth out returns during volatile periods like this. Morgan Stanley private wealth adviser Christopher Poch is a firm