Through the first three quarters of 2019, which ended last week, the top-performing sector was information technology, which returned 30.3 percent. It was followed by real estate at 28.4 percent and utilities at 25.0 percent.
But if you zoom out a little further, to the 12 months that ended on September 30, the top performer was the usually sleepy utilities sector. It's returned 27.1 percent over the past year, outpacing real estate, at 24.5 percent, and consumer staples, at 16.6 percent.
Why have utilities been so strong? Along with real estate, utilities are considered a strong play when bond returns are low. Utilities and real estate are generally considered dividend-income investments. As the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes has declined from 3.05 percent to 1.59 percent, utilities have thrived.
No comments:
Post a Comment