The S&P 500 is up about 15% year to date, but many investors fear a bear market because of higher bond yields, the Fed's fight against stubborn inflation and heavy borrowing by big tech for AI. In 2022, the Nasdaq-100 fell about 32.4% and the S&P 500 about 18.1%, while energy, utilities, healthcare and consumer staples held up better. The article suggests the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) as a defensive option, with 102 holdings, only 9.23% in information technology, and about 20.7% in healthcare, 20.4% in consumer staples and 14.1% in energy. Its top holdings include Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Merck, and the fund has delivered annualized returns of about 13.1% since its October 2011 inception.
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