utility companies this year gained more than any major equity index in the world and are trading above their 50- and 200-week moving averages, signaling stocks will slide further, according to
Utilities in the Standard and Poor's 500 Index rose 3.7 percent this year through yesterday for the best performance among 10 groups, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The providers of electricity and natural gas are considered popular "defensive" stocks because the companies are among the least- sensitive to a slowing economy and offer a dividend yield of 4.3 percent, about twice that of the broader index.
"The utilities have outperformed every major market in North America, Europe and the emerging world," New York-based Richard Ross, global technical strategist at Auerbach Grayson in New York, wrote in a note yesterday. "This is not how bull markets work, this is how they end. Significant downside remains."
Concern that growth in , the world's largest economy, is faltering and that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is spreading has sent 500 down 13 percent from its three-year high on April Emerging Markets Index fell 16 percent from its high on May 2 through yesterday.
"It's another bullish divergence, which reinforces the strength of the disparity between the defensive utilities and the more offensiv
His note recommended owning utility companies and selling "the rest."
Utilities in the Standard and Poor's 500 Index rose 3.7 percent this year through yesterday for the best performance among 10 groups, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The providers of electricity and natural gas are considered popular "defensive" stocks because the companies are among the least- sensitive to a slowing economy and offer a dividend yield of 4.3 percent, about twice that of the broader index.
"The utilities have outperformed every major market in North America, Europe and the emerging world," New York-based Richard Ross, global technical strategist at Auerbach Grayson in New York, wrote in a note yesterday. "This is not how bull markets work, this is how they end. Significant downside remains."
Concern that growth in , the world's largest economy, is faltering and that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is spreading has sent 500 down 13 percent from its three-year high on April Emerging Markets Index fell 16 percent from its high on May 2 through yesterday.
Of 24 developed markets and 19 major emerging market indexes tracked by Bloomberg
through yesterday. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 18 percent from its Feb. 17 high, only Iceland's has outperformed S&P 500 utilities so far this year
This is an early warning signal,a telephone interview from New York today, referring to the fact that utility companies are outperforming major indexes. "It's telling you that investors have good reasons to be defensive, and they're searching for yield in a world where there is no more yield."
500 Utilities Index trades above its 50- and 200- week moving averages, while
500 is below its 50-week moving average. The weekly moving average shows the"It's another bullish divergence, which reinforces the strength of the disparity between the defensive utilities and the more offensiv
His note recommended owning utility companies and selling "the rest."
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