Dividend Contribution By Sector For The S&P 500 Index

Probably not much of a surprise, but dividends paid by companies in the financial sector of the S&P 500 Index now account for only 9.08% of the index's total dividends. This is down from nearly 30% for the year ending December 2007. The leading contributor to the index's dividends for the period ending May 29, 2009 is consumer staples. The staples sector accounts for 17% of the index's dividend versus 11.6% for the year ending December 2007.

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Source: Standard & Poor's (xls)

For the period ending May 29, 2009, the performance of the dividend payers in the S&P 500 Index continues to lag the performance of the non-payers. The year to date return disparity is significant with the non-payers generating a return of 24.12% versus the payers return of -1.61%.

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Source: Standard & Poor's (xls)