It has not been a good year for utility stocks in 2023, with the Vanguard Utilities ETF (NYSEMKT: VPU) down by a tough 18% or so. That proxy for the utilities group, however, includes a lot of stocks, and there is a huge difference in how the individual underlying investments performed.

This is why a basket approach could be the best way to go for most investors.

Utilities are often bought for their yield. That's a problem when interest rates are rising. For starters, higher interest rates increase a utility's operating costs. But more to the point for these stocks, higher rates generally mean other income options become increasingly more attractive.

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Source Fool.com