Beware Of The Bubble

Dividend stocks have risen to historic highs even as yields have dipped. For example, an index that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX +0.79%) "dividend aristocrats," a basket of 51 stocks that have increased their dividends annually for at least 25 years, hit an all-time high in October.

We all understand the reasons behind this love affair with income assets. Stocks have been scarily volatile for the past decade or more -- and threaten to become even more so. The world's central banks have flooded financial markets with cash, crushing yields, but at the same time promising to keep interest rates extraordinarily low for "an extended period," to quote the Federal Reserve. A sputtering global economy has resulted in low rates of inflation, and deflation often seems a more immediate threat. But we know we're nearing the end of this cycle.

Source: MSN Money

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