JPMorganChase's buy list

Last Friday,JPMorganChase published a list of sixteen stocks that they feel will outperform the general market in a global recession. The stocks were:

3M Co.
Baxter International Inc.
Colgate-Palmolive Co.
CA Inc.
Devon Energy Corp.
General Mills Inc.
Gilead Sciences Inc.
Google Inc.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
McDonald's Corp.
Merck & Co.
Monsanto Co.
Nucor Corp.
Philip Morris International Inc.
Union Pacific Corp.
Visa Inc

There isn't much surprising about this list. They are all megacap stocks with tons of cash on their balance sheets. It features defensive healthcare and consumer staples companies, some energy plays which will act as an inflation hedge, and commodities stocks that have recently hit 52-week lows.

Do not go out and immediately buy these stocks. They are fine candidates for a watchlist, but don't plunk down your hard-earned cash just yet. It's almost certainly too late for any short-term gain from this list. Besides, this is aimed at institutional investors, many of whom have to be fully invested due to the language in their charters. "outperform" is a relative term and not a guarantee of positive returns.

If you're dollar cost averaging into an index fund or a stock that's already on this list, then buy all means, continue to buy and lower your cost basis. However, please don't feel that you have to open a new position in a stock due to the gravity of this flimsy list.