It helps to have a solid game-plan when markets turn choppy. Ours is to focus on business quality and company-level fundamentals.

Fear-driven volatility in the public markets masks solid developments--in Europe, in the US, and for utility stocks overall.

Here are three Canada-based stalwarts with impressive records of making consistent payments to shareholders, along with a breakdown of two potential ETF hedges and a word from the IRS on IRAs and income trust distribution withholding.

Distributable cash flow--not earnings per share--is the best measure of high-yielders’ ability to maintain their payouts. Government oversight should be so easy to gauge.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) will use federal loan guarantees to finance two nuclear reactors on its site in Waynesboro, Georgia.

Whatever become of BP (NYSE: BP) in the aftermath of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the stock is not for conservative income investors right now.

The president is responding radically to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Circumstances suggest the administration will tread more lightly when it comes to telecom and CO₂.