Fear is pervading not just financial markets but on the streets as well.
Twelve interest rate rises have pushed many Australians to the brink of despair. But the Reserve Bank hardly had much choice over the past year, as it did not hike the cash rate early enough to quickly stamp out inflation.
Now the cat's out of the bag and everyone — except for savings accounts — is a loser.
So what are the best ASX shares to buy in such scary times?
Here's a couple of suggestions out of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO):
'A defensive earnings profile' to get through tough times
Catapult Wealth portfolio manager Tim Haselum loves many investors' old favourite CSL Limited (ASX: CSL).
He's been impressed with the company's recent post-COVID performance.
"This global biotechnology company delivered total revenue of US$7.184 billion at reported currency for the half year ending December 31, 2022," Haselum told The Bull.
"It represented an increase of 19% on the prior corresponding period."
He admitted net profit from ordinary activities fell slightly, but the biotech giant's resilient money-making abilities could not be denied.
"CSL generates revenue from blood products, vaccines and kidney disease. CSL has a defensive earnings profile regardless of recession fears."
Incredibly, the healthcare stock currently enjoys unanimous support among professional investors.
All 11 analysts surveyed on CMC Markets rate CSL shares as a buy right now.
The CSL share price is trading 9.5% higher than where it started this year.
$13 billion of development-in-progress
Real estate might be on the nose after 400 basis points worth of rate rises over just 13 months, but perhaps such stocks have copped enough.
Haselum's favoured play in that space is industrial property provider Goodman Group (ASX: GMG).
"It enjoys high occupancy rates across industrial and warehouse assets."
Perhaps unusually for a real estate stock, Goodman has strong potential for growth.
"It has $13 billion of development work in progress across 79 projects," said Haselum.
"Guidance for operating earnings per security growth has increased to 15% in fiscal year 2023."
Although its dividends are minimal compared to other property stocks, Haselum's team is happy to make hay with the capital growth.
The Goodman share price is up 13.3% year to date.
Similar to CSL, Goodman is currently enjoying widespread support from fund managers.
According to CMC Markets, nine out of 12 analysts currently rate the stock as a buy.
