Opening Statement from the February 2016 Dividend Gems

Opening Statement from the February 2016 Dividend Gems

Originally published on February 22, 2016 (pre-market release)

In the January 2016 issue of Dividend Gems (Volume 60) for many of the securities on the Recommended List we advised aggressive investors to reenter positions only once the stock market showed signs of a rally.

Over the past several months we have been pointing to the fact that Utilities have served as a very nice hedge against stock market declines. We believe Utilities will continue to serve as a nice hedge against declines in the stock market partly due to our forecasts of low interest rates...

Recently, investors have flocked into US Government bonds as a safe haven asset as global economic risk has heightened. This has caused the yield on the 10-year Treasury Note to once again drop below 2.00%. In contrast, Healthcare which once led all sectors continues to show weakness, as previously forecast.

For several years we have been discussing our concerns of weak global demand as the primary cause of global disinflation and periodic deflation in select nations. This