Stocks Close Lower, Mixed For The Week, Markets Look For Direction  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed lower yesterday. The Dow and the S&P are back in the red for the week, albeit just slightly, while the Nasdaq is still in the green for the week, albeit slightly. The markets opened lower. They attempted a comeback, and by noon the Nasdaq was in the plus column. But that was short-lived as all of the indexes headed back down, making new intraday lows into the close. After a stellar week last week that saw the Dow up 5.56%, the S&P up 6.16%, and the Nasdaq up 8.18%, being down a bit this week is not that big of a deal. But with the indexes still down from their highs and for the year, investors are definitely looking for some additional upside momentum. The war on Ukraine continues. And with it, anxiety for what comes next. The U.S. State Department officially said that "members of Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine." President Biden headed to Brussels yesterday for a special NATO summit. He is also expected to visit Poland on his trip to discuss what additional actions the U.S. and its allies can take to support Ukraine. In other news, MBA Mortgage Applications were down -8.1% w/w, with purchases down -2.0% and refi's down -14.0%. New Homes sales were down as well coming in 772,000 units (annualized) vs. last month's downwardly revised 788K and views for 810K. Today we'll get Weekly Jobless Claims, Durable Goods Orders, the PMI Composite Flash report, and the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index. In spite of present challenges (high inflation, high oil and gas prices, the war on Ukraine, etc.), there are still plenty of positives in the economy, which includes a strong labor market, strong household income, strong consumer demand, strong corporate earnings, and given the pullback this year, lower valuations. But the uncertainty can be unnerving. And it's clear that volatility is here to stay. That's why it's important to find strategies to help you minimize risk while also being positioned to capture upside as well. Dividends and diversification are two such things to help you hedge against uncertainty and volatility, and profit at the same time. To learn how to incorporate that into your own portfolio, be sure to read our latest commentary... How to Protect Your Assets & Profit in This Market Best,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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