The Federal Reserve will hold its penultimate FOMC meeting on October 31-November 1, and the odds that they’ll institute another interest rate hike have just jumped. The September jobs report came in, showing employment levels far above the forecast – 336,000 new jobs in the month, compared to the 170,000 expected – and that means increased inflationary pressures. Analysts now put the odds of a quarter-percent rate hike at 29%.
The messages here are mixed. The jobs numbers look good – but increased employment also risks increasing wage inflation, which increases pressure on the Fed to fire their only weapon against inflation – further interest rate hikes. The Fed has already signaled that it will hold rates ‘higher for longer,’ and bond yields are hovering near 16-year highs. This, in turn, puts pressure on stocks, as investors go seeking the highest returns.
With all of this in mind, it’s probably time to consider getting into dividend stocks. These equities offer investors the advantage of a steady passive income no matter how the markets turn.
Goldman Sachs analyst John Mackay has tapped two high-yield payers as choices for investors to buy now. According to TipRanks’ database, these are Buy-rated stocks with dividend yields of at least 8%. Let’s take a closer look.
MPLX LP (MPLX)
We’ll start with a well-known name in the hydrocarbon midstream industry, MPLX. This company spun off from Marathon Petroleum more than a decade ago, to operate the parent company’s midstream transport assets – and today MPLX is a major player in North America’s oil and natural gas midstream niche, boasting a $35 billion market cap and a continent-spanning asset network.
That asset network includes a pipeline web, terminal points, and river fleet of tugs and barges. These transportation assets link production regions and wellheads with oil and gas storage facilities, tank farms, gas refineries, and, on the coast, export terminals. Finally, in addition to moving crude oil and natural gas, MPLX also has a hand in the transport and distribution of refined fuel…
..
