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During turbulent times, safe investments are the name of the game. Utilities have been a traditional defensive equity play and the sector has, again, held up quite well as the markets soured. Exchange traded funds that track utilities companies offer safe and stable returns with decent dividend yields.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLU ) has an expense ratio of 0.18% and a 12-month yield of 3.87%. The fund is up 5.4% over the last three months and is 5.6% above its 200-day exponential moving average.

Vanguard Utilities Sector ETF (NYSEArca: VPU ) has an expense ratio of 0.19% and a 12-month yield of 3.6%. VPU has gained 5.0% over the last three months and is 5.0% above its 200-day EMA.

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index Fund ETF (NYSEArca: IDU ) has an expense ratio of 0.47% and a 12-month yield of 3.37%. IDU increased 4.3% in the past three months and is 4.8% above its 200-day EMA.

In comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY ) has lost 1.6% over the last three months and is 0.4% above its 200-day EMA. The broad market ETF has been going back-and-forth over its 200-day support level for a few weeks now.

The utilities sector is a noncyclical, defensive play as consumers will require the electricity generated from utility facilities during any market condition. The current outperformance in utilities suggests that investors are scared and seek safety, which is not a good sign for the overall market. [Consumer Staples ETFs Play Defense Against Euro ]

Sustainable U.S. domiciled utilities and, for that matter, U. S. energy utilities as a whole, represent a good investment opportunity in these globally turbulent times, Richard Rudden, chief executive and senior partner at Target Rock, said in a press release .

With investors over-saturating traditional safe-haven assets, like U.S. Treasuries, the overlooked utilities sector is beginning to garner greater addition as a income producer.

As investors flee equities, commodity and sovereign risks, they are seeking the safety of relatively secure fixed income instruments, such as U.S. Treasury Notes, Rudden added. But the cost of this safety is high, with the ten-year Treasury Notes yielding 1.5%an all-time historical low. However, utility dividend yields are much greater than that… 4.3%and the risk to principal is low.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR

For more information on the utilities sector, visit our utilities category .

Max Chen contributed to this article .

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.