The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that ever since the financial crash of 2008, investors have poured money into dividend stocks. Guest columnist Gordon Pape writes that the strategy has paid off handsomely. The price of utilities, telcos, REITs and other cash-generating securities increased while dividends rose as profits improved. It was great while it lasted, but that particular bull market is over. Rising rates are putting pressure on interest-sensitive stocks, and we are probably just at the beginning of that cycle. As of Friday's close, the S&P/TSX Capped Utilities Index was down 7.4 per cent for 2018, while the Telecom Index had lost 5.5 per cent. None of these stocks has lowered its dividend, nor are any expected to. However, with safe fixed-income securities offering better returns as rates rise, investors want higher yields from more risky stocks. Raising the dividend achieves that to some degree. So, too, do falling share prices. Take BCE for example. It hit a 52-week high of $63 last April. At the time, the annual dividend was $2.87, for a yield of 4.55 per cent. The company raised its dividend this year to $3.02, but the stock has dropped to $56.44 for a yield of 5.3 per cent.