Meet Your Unlikely Safe Havens: Faux Meat, Bitcoin: Taking Stock

So “safe” may be pushing it, but it’s worth highlighting some unlikely bedfellows in the green that emerged Monday, even amid the worst day on a intraday basis for the SPX this year (exceeding even the nadir of what was seen last Tuesday) and the worst day period in 2019 for the Nasdaq composite.

In times of panic, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear utilities outperform high-beta, growth-oriented names like technology, which is exactly what we saw to start the week as the trade war took few prisoners. It’s great timing for the typically stable dividend payers, ahead of the Deutsche Bank Utilities and Power conference due to start today, where I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few executives tout their companies as ports of calm in signs of distress --similar to Barron’s description of the segment over the weekend. Before Friday, utilities had been the second-worst performer on the year, so a case could have also been made that they were ripe to catch up.