The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Jan. 16, edition that if all the portents are right, 2024 should be a good year for dividend stocks. The Globe's regular guest columnist Gordon Pape writes that it is about time. These normally dependable low-risk securities were savaged during the sharp run-up in interest rates as central banks fired all their guns at the inflationary genie. Solid utilities were hit hard, including Fortis, which saw the market price of its shares fall 19 per cent from May, 2022, to September, 2023. Enbridge was down 23.7 per cent. BCE lost almost 25 per cent. It was a tough time for holders of these equities. This was not supposed to happen to conservative portfolios, but it did. Investors were shell-shocked, and with good reason. The good news is that share prices of these securities should recover as interest rates stabilize and eventually reverse course. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board signalled in December that it anticipates lowering interest rates three times this year. There is no guarantee, of course -- inflation may decide to hang around longer than expected. However, Mr. Pape says all signs indicate the next moves from central banks will be down, not up.