The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) are reversing some of the gains made in Thursday's trading session as volatility rocks the market. Edward Jones senior investment strategist Mona Mahajan joins Catalysts to discuss the movement and how investors can best navigate this roller coaster ride.

"Markets have certainly calmed much more meaningfully over the last couple of days than we saw Monday and Tuesday of this week even... We've seen this week alone the jobless claim figures that came in below expectations provided a little comfort to the market that is really looking for direction on a couple of things. One, is the US labor market headed towards some sort of meaningful collapse or downside, and two, is the broader economy headed towards a downturn as well? And I think for us, both of the answers to both of those questions are no," Mahajan explains.

She notes that while unemployment is high, it's largely due to an influx of workers entering the workforce rather than job losses and layoffs. "It's a much more benign environment. We don't see a recession on the horizon. And in that backdrop, if the Fed is cutting rates and there's no recession, that tends to be pretty good for financial markets over time," she adds. Mahajan expects choppiness and volatility in the market in the months ahead, and encourages investors to rebalance and diversify their portfolios. "You need to make sure that you have value in cyclical parts of the market, perhaps mid-cap stocks in there as well, a little bit of international exposure, and that we think will be a more winning portfolio."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl