The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, July 8, edition that Wall Street strategist Richard Bernstein advises equity investors to shift focus from risk assets to utilities for stable dividends and earnings. The Globe's Scott Barlow writes that in Mr. Bernstein's report "A Bird in the Hand," he argues that investors have lost sight of traditional wealth-building principles by chasing high-risk returns. Surprisingly, the returns from the U.S. utilities sector have been comparable to those of the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite since 1971, with utilities offering much less volatility. Mr. Barlow says domestic investors in utilities have slept a lot better than speculative investors over the past 35 years. Mr. Bernstein's timing is clear: U.S. valuations are high and investors continue to push the market up despite risks from tariff policies, potential threats to Federal Reserve independence and military conflicts in the Middle East. Risk tolerance may be overly high. As rates decline, utility stock dividend yields become more attractive. In Richard Bernstein's mind, investors have lost the plot -- scrambling to chase the riskiest sector returns while forgetting the time-honoured route to wealth.