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Why Utility ETFs Have Dimmed

I won't dispute the underperformance argument, or the short term prospects. One point of clarification however: rarely do these articles or analysis of prices take into account dividends. And let's face it... many investors pick a fund such as XLU for the relatively steady dividend stream. It's a minor clarification, but if you include dividends, XLU has returned close to 2% for the year, versus a -0.1% loss if you don't consider them. It's still not up to par with the return of say SPY (+10.5% price, +11.71% if you include dividends), but in any analysis of returns I tire of seeing people ignore dividends.