Similar to fixed income securities, the U.S. Preferred Stock market has started 2014 with positive performance. The S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (Total Return) ended January 2014 up 2.68% . A good start given the S&P 500 Index (Total Return) was down 3.46%. As a fixed income comparison the S&P/BGCantor U.S. Treasury Bond 7-10 Year Index was up 2.98% for the month.
Looking back over a longer period the price return (excluding dividends) of the index declined 5.42% for the twelve months ending January 31st. The dividend yield of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ended January at slightly over 6.9%. The net result was a positive return of 1.23% during that twelve month period. Simply put, the dividend income helped keep the returns in positive territory.
The 12 month total returns of both indices are charted below.
![12 Month Returns Ending January 2013: S&P U.S. Preferred Index & S&P 500 (Total Return)](https://www.indexologyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/US-Preferred-Index-12-Months-Ending-Jan-31-20141.png)
Over the five year period ending January 31, 2014, the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index had a five year annualized return of over 17.6% while the S&P 500 returned over 19.1%. The five year total return values for both indices are charted below.
![Five Year Returns Ending January 2014 of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index and the S&P 500 Index (Total Returns)](https://www.indexologyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/US-Preferred-Index-5-Yr-Ending-01-31-2014.png)