S&P utility payouts offer more than some high-yield debt

Income-oriented investors might be better off with U.S. utility stocks than high-yield bonds these days. That’s because the dividend yield on the S&P 500 Utilities Index has exceeded the yield on the Bloomberg Barclays Ba High-Yield Index since December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The swing to utility stocks from near-investment-grade debt was the first since calculations of S&P’s industry gauge began in 1989. Friday’s yield gap favored utility shares by more than 0.4 percentage point for the first time.