The first member of the CNBC Pro All Weather Stock list is a surprisingly resilient exchange-trade fund that offers high dividend income to boot. The timing is right for this list in particular because of the precarious set-up of the stock market so far in 2025. We’ll be adding to it periodically as the year goes on. Consider: It’s extremely rare for the S & P 500 to notch a third year in a row of 20% gains. We are due for a period of mild-to-down returns for equities where other kinds of investments besides momentum stocks perform. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) is not matching the reality of the market’s outlook. Fiscal and monetary policies here and abroad that will impact the macroeconomic environment are near high levels of uncertainty. Yet Wall Street’s fear gauge (before the last few days) was mostly trending lower again in 2025. We are due for a volatility spike that typically hits Wall Street every few years. Signs of slowing economic growth are starting to emerge, from Walmart’s poor forecast last week to the recent declines in consumer sentiment surveys. Dividend investing has been completely forgotten over this bull run and is due for a snapback. Here’s how we found the first member of our All Weather List. We screened thousands of exchange-traded funds to find ones with extraordinary stability. Just 10 funds have posted positive returns in each of the last five years, as well as so far this year. From there just one fund had a dividend yield above 3% and an expense ratio below 0.3%. (The data we used was from FactSet.) New list member: VanEck Durable High Dividend ETF (DURA) The ETF is the VanEck Durable High Dividend ETF (DURA) , which tracks the performance of the Morningstar U.S. Dividend Valuation Index. Here are the key reasons why we added the fund: The fund had solid returns the last five years in bull and bear market environments. It returned 2.4% in 2022 when the S & P 500 tumbled 19%. Last year, it returned 9% as the market soared. The ETF has a 12-month yield of 3.27%, allowing you to get paid to wait if the market goes through a correction or volatile period. Top holdings include AbbVie , Johnson & Johnson , Pfizer and Altria , all stocks that have dependable cash flows and are relatively immune to a lot of the changes going on in Washington. The ETF has never had a down year in its six years of existence. The fund will still appreciate in a bull market and throw off stable income. The ETF is up 4% already this year in price return alone, beating the market. The index it tracks tries to find high-yielding companies with strong financials that are cheap. DURA YTD mountain VanEck Durable High Dividend ETF (DURA), YTD The risks to this investment, which charges 0.29% in fees, are: The bull market led by momentum stocks continues unabated despite recent threats to the economy, leaving dividend and value investing in the dustbin. What this fund gives up for stable returns punishes it over the long term. It’s returned only 7% annually the last five years. So, this bet will likely only be successful if the market underperforms its recent history. The fund’s two biggest holdings are Chevron and Exxon Mobil . If there is a recession, these stocks could fall with the price of oil and wipe out any benefit from their dividend yields. If a vicious bear market ensues instead of a run-of-the-mill correction, it could drag down most stocks significantly, even defensive ones like those held in this fund. But this ETF should be expected to outperform. This is the first addition to the All Weather List: This is not a portfolio, but a starting point for research by investors with a particular macro or industry view. We’ll be launching more PRO stock lists to give investors with a particular view some tangible strategies to consider. The lists will be formed from screening techniques used by the pros, along with our access to some of the best research on Wall Street.
