The midterms are over, but volatility hasn’t gone away.

It’s easy to see why. Despite the euphoria following the election (and the clarity it brought), on the ground, not much has changed.

The mood? Still fearful. Inflation? Still too high. And some corners of the market (I’m looking at you, tech) are still looking overstretched.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still bullish. At some point, the Iran conflict will likely wind down. That would take some of the strength out of oil prices.

Meantime, AI continues its cost-cutting—and profit-boosting—march across the economy. And as we discussed a couple weeks ago, we’ve got the calendar at our backs, with the third year of the four-year presidential cycle historically the best for stocks.… Read more

Corporate-bond funds are cheap now, and their yields have soared.

We can “thank” high interest rates for that. When rates rise, bond prices fall. That, as always with bonds, is a key part of our buying opportunity today.

What’s more, this opportunity is (finally!) starting to get on the mainstream crowd’s radar.

How do I know? Because even the financial press (which seems like it’s been able to talk about tech stocks and little else for years now) is catching on: CNBC recently published a story with a title that literally said, “This could be one of the best times in recent market history to buy corporate bonds.” … Read more

The ball swung to me, and without hesitation I went up for a 15-foot jump shot. Then I heard a yell. It was from “Old Carlos,” who was 10 feet from the play, who, by the way, is usually 10 feet out of the play. “He’s open for a reason,” OC yelled.

Well, I thought as I went into my shooting motion, “Little does OC know, but I’m a good jump shooter, and the elbow is a good shot for me. This is well within my range. Just because he hasn’t seen me play before doesn’t mean I can’t hit the shot.”… Read more

This tech-stock wobble is rattling the mainstream crowd.

Good. We welcome it.

It goes without saying that tech stocks have been sucking up all the oxygen in the markets for years now. That, of course, has pulled attention away from other corners of the market, particularly those that offer lower volatility and higher dividends.

We’re buying those unloved payers now. That not only sets us up for high, stable dividends—it gets us in right as tech-stock volatility picks up, and potentially drives investors toward these off-the-radar assets.

Our main target? Real estate investment trusts (REITs), which I see as prime candidates to shine in 2027.… Read more

Can you hear me now, income investors? Verizon (VZ) wants to know.

It’s been a roller-coaster October for the telecom. Given its always-high yield, I know our dividend fans are often considering Verizon, asking, “Is it a good buy now?”

Well, its price is down and profits are up. So that’s a promising start!

Why the bargain though? (Or as my kids ask me when they watch commercials: Daddy, what’s the catch?)

On October 8, Elon Musk made a move! Potential competitor SpaceX (SPCX) agreed to buy nationwide spectrum in a move that would bring Musk into the telecom world.… Read more

The midterms are here—and we contrarians are voting for 13.5% dividends.

The payout we’re going to discuss today isn’t just well into double digits—it also has a history of rolling out, like clockwork, through all sorts of political mayhem.

It’s the ultimate “Alka-Seltzer” divvie for election-season heartburn. And it’s exactly what we need now.

This 13.5% dividend comes from a closed-end fund (CEF) called the DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (DSL). It’s a holding of my Contrarian Income Report service that recently marked its 10th year in our portfolio.

DSL just hit another milestone, too: It “paid back” our buy price in dividends alone.… Read more

The world’s biggest asset manager says now is the time for us to grab “generational high yields.”

I believe them. And today we’re going to follow their advice.

The setup is clear: Even though high bond yields have caused a lot of worry, especially around heavily indebted AI firms, these worries (as they often do) bring opportunity.

That opportunity is this: Yes, yields on corporate bonds have soared, especially in the more speculative corner of the market, where heavily indebted AI players like CoreWeave (CRWV) operate.

But in other corners of the bond market, something interesting is happening: Yields are hitting highs not seen in 18 years, while default risk remains low.… Read more

Income investors are attracted to low-beta stocks like moths to a flame. Low beta has a reputation for being low drama, but is it really?

Technically, beta measures how closely a stock moves with the market. Intuitively, we’re looking for low-beta stocks because we think that they’ll do better during a market pullback.

Here’s a low-beta dog—and one of today’s picks: NNN REIT (NNN). Its beta over the last year is near zero, but the stock has returned just 5.4% over the last 12 months, versus 14.4% for the S&P 500. And from its July high to mid-October, NNN fell 14%.… Read more

This market is in a weird place: rising but scared.

Disconnects like these are exactly what make our contrarian income strategy work.

Here’s the state of play: Stocks, of course, have risen this year, with the S&P 500 up around 12%. That’s because, even though investors are dour, enough of them see that corporate America is in a “profit boom”: According to the latest numbers from FactSet, S&P 500 companies are set to report profit growth of 33.1% for all of 2026, on 12.8% revenue gains.

These are huge numbers, and they fully justify this year’s gains.

But if you’ve been watching the movements of the overall market (and I’m guessing you probably have), you’ll have noted that it’s been mostly grinding sideways since around mid-summer, with occasional sharp moves—some of them major—up and down.… Read more

Social Security recipient? You’re set to receive a 3.6% raise in January.

How about your dividend portfolio? Well, it depends on your positions! So let’s talk about the stocks and funds that will give us that magical COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) we love to sip versus the static divvies that can become a bit stale year after year.

We’re all about the 7% to 8% yields here at Contrarian Outlook. Generous dividends are good! But often these come with fixed paychecks that are, well, fixed.

Year after year we collect the same check. In January, we’ll have some COLA FOMO. Inflation is our hidden nemesis.… Read more