Roger S. Conrad

Utilities’ investment plans require regulatory consistency to be successful. And for Conservative Holding WEC Energy Group (NYSE: WEC), November election results were pretty close to optimal for its $20.1 billion, 5-year CAPEX plan, increased this month from $17.7 billion.

Owning shares of AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) has been an exercise in patience since the retirement of visionary CEO Ed Whitacre—who forged the modern company by combining wireline and wireless franchises of four “Baby Bells” and several regional service providers.

When the October issue of CUI posted, the Dow Jones Utility Average was underwater nearly -10 percent for the year. Now it’s close to even including dividends. That strong recovery also shows up in a brief scan of stock prices in this month’s Conservative Holdings, Aggressive Holdings and Top 10 DRIP tables. But it wasn’t exactly a buy everything moment either.

Wireline communications company Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) eliminated its quarterly cash dividend this month. That brings total year-to-date cuts in the Utility Report Card coverage universe to nine.

Political parties are usually well down the list of reasons for bull and bear markets. But elections do have consequences, particularly in heavily regulated industries like utilities and energy.

The income stock selloff that began in mid-September has picked up steam this month. The Dow Jones Utility Average is now underwater by –9.42 percent year-to-date including dividends, and nearly -19 percent since almost hitting a new all-time high last month.

That’s for sure a massive outperformance of the S&P 500, which has resumed its year-long slide and is down almost -24 percent for 2022. And with the exception of oil and gas stocks, utilities are also well ahead of almost everything else in the income investing universe, particularly bonds with the 10-year Treasury note yield again pushing towards 4 percent.