Oil prices have been locked in a tight range for five years—and I know I don’t have to tell you that this has been a disaster for energy investors. Oil Fails to Launch With the benchmark Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) unable to hold its gains for long (let alone recover to pre-crash levels), even the most conservative energy investor has been clobbered. Why is this happening? After all, you’d think a growing global population and emerging-market growth would drive up the price of a limited resource like oil. But the tables have turned. I’ll get into why shortly. These Dividend Payers Are Better Buys Than Oil For now, though, I recommend that income-seekers go a different route and pick stocks (and closed-end funds [CEFs] ) that benefit from cheaper oil and gas—like utilities.… Read more