- Morningstar’s Robert Goldsborough thinks utilities are unlikely repeat their mid-2013 swoon, asserting that investors now are pricing in 4% U.S. Treasury yields, which would suggest no substantial downward moves in utilities if rates hit that level; utilitiy companies also could continue their recent outperformance if Treasury rates stabilized close to 3%.
- On the other hand, Brendan Conway of Barron's sees this as reason for caution in the long run; if the climate of falling rates since 2000 is one of the drivers of utilities’ tremendous decade-plus performance, then the end of that climate would seem to bode ill for ETFs such as VPU and XLU.
- Also: IDU, UPW, FUTY, RYU, PUI, FXU, SDP, PSCU