Utilities can steer you to gains in this market

Article Excerpt

Below, we continue our look at industries and sectors that tend to reward investors in bear markets. That includes utilities, communications services, and healthcare ETFs. While those funds are generally less exposed to the ups and downs of the economic cycle, they also tend to do reasonably well in upward-trending markets. Know, however, that during boom times, they often lag more-cyclical Resource stocks and ETFs. For more on the historical performance of these “bear-market performers,” see the supplement on pages 49 and 50. VANGUARD UTILITIES ETF $127.67 (New York symbol VPU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $3.7 billion) tracks the MSCI U.S. Investable Market Utilities Index. Large, medium and small companies qualify for inclusion in the index. Stocks are weighted based on their market value but certain limits apply to ensure portfolio diversification. Electrical utilities make up 58.4% of your portfolio through this fund, followed by multi-utilities (29.0%), gas utilities (4.5%) and water utilities (4.1%). The ETF currently holds 68 stocks with the top 10…