Roger S. Conrad

Utility stocks’ key attraction has always been generous dividends. Yet nearly half the companies tracked in our Utility Report Card yield less than 3 percent, and 20 pay less than 2 percent.

Conversely, less than 10 have dividends as high as 8 percent. And most of those should be avoided for safety’s sake.

I’m happy to say it’s still possible to dig safe, high yields from this increasingly rocky ground. That’s the subject of our Feature article.

US/China trade turmoil, rising political tensions in Hong Kong and erratic Australian regulation have driven down shares of CLP Holdings (Hong Kong: 2, OTC: CLPHY) below our buy target of USD11. Now’s the time to pick up shares of this Aggressive Holding.

In summer 2013, Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) cut its quarterly payout from 52.5 cents to 31 cents per share. The 41 percent reduction was a tacit admission that no US carbon tax would save the nation’s largest nuclear power fleet from falling wholesale electricity prices.

When this issue went to post, not every company in our Utility Report Card coverage universe or model portfolios had released its second quarter numbers. But there’s enough available information to discern several key takeaways.

First, even in these essential service businesses, there’s evidence the US economy has lost some steam. One place that’s shown up is industrial sales of the country’s largest electric utilities.

UK-based integrated energy company Centrica Plc (London: CNA, OTC: CPYYY) will cut its semi-annual dividend payable in November to GBP1.50 per share, from the year ago rate of GBP3.60. Management also announced a reduction in the “Final” dividend to be declared in February from GBP8.40 to GBP3.50 per share.

How low can interest rates go? The answer likely depends on how much the US economy slows in coming months and how aggressively the Federal Reserve responds. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield still hasn’t fallen as far as it did in summer 2016, or even in July 2012 when Washington was playing chicken with the possibility of a first ever US government default.

For those who want a play on solar and energy storage, there are better choices than Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).

Barron's is piling on with an article concerning AT&T Inc’s (NYSE: T) loss of DirectTV subscribers, following up on a cover story critiquing the telecom giant's acquisition of Time Warner last year. Investors, however, saw the situation quite differently, pushing the stock to solid gains on earnings day, despite media mono-focus on the pay television unit.

Wall Street consensus is the U.S. Federal Reserve will officially close the book on three-and-a-half years of monetary tightening next week, by cutting its benchmark Federal Funds interest rate. But our focus needs to be on earnings and guidance, not headlines.