

WisdomTree Global High Dividend Fund (NYSEARCA:DEW - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 10,970 shares, an increase of 96.3% from the January 29th total of 5,589 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold

Global dividends hit a record high in 2024, with $606.1 billion paid in Q2 alone, as tech giants like Meta and Alibaba entered the dividend-paying market. Equity yields remain low compared to bonds, with the FTSE All-World index yielding 1.86% in September 2024, while the FTSE World Government Bond index yield to maturity stood at 3.03%. Dividend-focused strategies can enhance income potential in equity portfolios by prioritising high-dividend-paying sectors and reducing risks of dividend cuts.

Dividend stocks, including REITs and utilities, have underperformed in recent years. Rising interest rates and increasing costs of capital have contributed to the underperformance. The beginnings of a strong dividend stock rally may have just begun on the back of some very good news.

2023 Global Dividend Rebalance

Investing in dividend-paying stocks has proved to be a helpful strategy, outperforming global markets over the long term. Dividend income strategies play an important role for multi-asset income portfolios. But they can also run the risk of being too narrowly focused, which can limit both income potential and upside participation when equity markets rise.

Investors were net purchasers of money market funds while being net redeemers of equity funds, tax-exempt fixed income funds, and taxable bond funds for the week. For the week, the average equity fund (including ETFs) witnessed market declines of 1.01%, while its taxable fixed income counterpart declined 0.23%.

U.S.-centric investors have been accustomed to even fewer declines. Equities had only one negative return of less than 5% during the same period. As earnings have continued to trend positively, dividend payouts - which tend to be far less volatile than stock prices - have shown continued growth.

WisdomTree has long established itself as an innovator and experienced ETF issuer, having launched one of the only non-market-cap-weighted ETF options on the market in June, 2006.