For the eighth year in the past 10, utility stocks finished January in the black. Every time but 2015, they finished the year that way, including a 27.3 percent boost in the Dow Jones Utility Average for 2019.
Conversely, you’d have to go back to 1987 to find a year when a strong January was followed by a sector selloff later on. Every other major DJUA decline was instead preceded by a first month selloff including 2008, 2002, 2001 and 1994.
A big January is therefore a favorable portent for our returns in 2020. So are the calendar Q4 earnings and guidance updates we’ve seen so far for Utility Report Card coverage universe companies, highlighted in the comments of this month’s table.
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