Four Dividend ETFs Beating the S&P 500 in 2010

Dividend ETFs are beating the S&P500 handily and it appears as though they have the propensity to do so into the foreseeable future. There are some interesting happenings in both the broader market as well as the fixed-income space. Treasuries continue to break new lows leaving investors scratching their heads as to whether we’re truly headed into a a deflationary environment, whether government paper is really THAT much more attractive than risky assets or whether this is the beginning of a bond bubble of epic proportions. Common equities meanwhile have been pretty much range bound with good recent earnings news tempered by continued economic malaise in the US at large and last week, the dreaded Hindenburg Omen reared its ugly head. While there are only a handful of AAA companies left in the world, there are dozens upon dozens of very high quality outfits yielding 3-6% that have adequate cash flow to continue/increase dividend payouts at their current pace, especially in the face of their persistence during the recent financial collapse. There are some key drivers for this performance and it’s also helpful to look back at the prior decade to take solace in the fact that value stocks actually did fairly well compared to the “lost decade” for the broader market indices.... Read more