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Cheap Defensive Stocks

These quality names are trading at 4- and 5-star levels.

Susan Dziubinski

I was going to kick off this week's column with something quippy about Leap Year Day. But the past week has left investors--including me--humorless. Concerns about what the coronavirus will do to global economic growth pummeled stocks. Whether cooler heads will prevail next week is anyone's guess.

Given the uncertainty, one thing seems clear: It’s not unreasonable to play a little defense right now.

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