The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) and The S&P’s Best-Performing Sectors in 2013

Finally, utility stocks have been a somewhat surprising performer this year, but low natural-gas prices have helped electric utilities cut their costs. Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) is still well off its all-time highs, but The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has stretched to new records as investors continue to gravitate to high-yielding dividend stocks backed by reasonable fundamentals. Here, too, valuations have gotten somewhat expensive, so treading carefully is the prudent course for risk-averse investors.

Can these sectors keep rising?
The challenge in investing is figuring out when trends are likely to continue and when they could reverse. Last week’s market movements suggest the possibility of a coming inflection point in the market, but for now, the reasons that pushed these stocks to better returns still appear to be in place.

The article The S&P’s Best-Performing Sectors in 2013 originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble, Southern, and UnitedHealth Group. You can follow him on Twitter: @DanCaplinger.

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