We’ve seen two conflicting trends in the markets this year – a sharp drop, into bear territory, in the first five months, and a strong rally since the beginning of June. Both trends have been overlaid on increased volatility, creating a confusing market environment even when the buying kicked back in.

Along with the unpredictable stock market, we’ve had to deal with inflation at 40-year high levels and fast-rising interest rates as the Federal Reserve tries to put the brakes on prices. The result is predictable, and probably here already: a recession. How painful it will get is still up in the air.

At least one market expert believes we’re not out of the worst yet. Mike Wilson, chief US equity strategist from Morgan Stanley, has been consistently bearish all year, and he hasn’t changed that tune despite the current rally.

“Last month's rally in stocks was powerful and has investors excited that the bear market is over and looking forward to better times... We think it's premature to sound the all-clear with recession and therefore earnings risk is still elevated. For these reasons, we stayed defensively oriented in our equity positioning,” Wilson opined.

A defensive orientation will naturally lead investors toward dividend stocks. These income-generating equities offer some degree of protection against both inflation and share depreciation by providing a steady income stream.

Against this backdrop, some Wall Street analysts have given the thumbs-up to two dividend stocks yielding no less than 13%, or even better. Opening up the TipRanks database, we examined the details behind these two to find out what else makes them compelling buys.

Diana Shipping (DSX)

The supply chain has been in the news lately, for all the wrong reasons – including backups at major ports around the world. The first stock we’ll look at, Diana Shipping, is a company that had to deal with these issues directly, and has done so successfully. Diana Shipping is a major dry-bulk carrier on the ocean trades, operating a fleet of 35 vessels totaling some 4.5 million dry weight tons. These ships, with an average age of 10.5 years, operate globally, carrying the bulk cargoes that the world economy depends on, include iron ore, grains, and coal.