Utilities Have Been Hot, Hot, Hot in 2011

Utilities have been "hot" in 2011. Illustrating the strength with just one more day of trading left, the Dow Jones Utility Average (DJUA) is on track for its best yearly performance since 2007.

The DJUA is up 15.34 percent through Thursday's close.

Leading the sector has been NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) (up 41.85 percent), Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) (up 35.22 percent), CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) (up 34.35 percent), Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) (up 32.02 percent), and Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) (up 30.55 percent).

13 of the 15 stocks in the average are on track to close the year in the green. The two laggards are AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) (down 2.46 percent) and PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) (down 9.5 percent).

Investors have been running to the utilities sector all year for the strong dividend payouts and solid price action.

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