The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that dividend companies will continue to benefit from the downward trend in interest rates. The Globe's John Heinzl writes that in addition to lowering borrowing costs for real estate investment trusts, utilities and other companies that carry a lot of debt, falling rates typically lead to higher valuations for dividend stocks as investors switch out of fixed-income securities. Mr. Heinzl's second prediction is that dividends will continue to rise. Based on historical patterns, he expects that we will be seeing dividend increases in the first quarter from BCE, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, Canadian Utilities, Restaurant Brands International and TC Energy, with many more companies to follow during the balance of 2024. The columnist says that none of these dividend increases alone will make you rich, but if you stay invested through good times and bad and reinvest your dividends regularly, over the long run you will likely be pleased with the results. In the past three months, the yield on government of Canada five-year bonds has declined more than a full percentage point, to about 3.3 per cent. All of this has provided a nice tailwind for dividend stocks.