📅 On This Day
S&P Strips United States of Its AAA Credit Rating for First Time
On August 5, 2011, Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States from AAA to AA+, ending a top rating the country had held since Moody's first assigned it in 1917. The move followed a bruising debt-ceiling standoff in Congress, with S&P citing political dysfunction as much as fiscal fundamentals. In a twist that confounded markets, investors fled into the very Treasuries just downgraded — driving yields to record lows even as stocks took a harsh beating.
A historic downgrade, a paradoxical rally in Treasuries — August 5, 2011 rewrote assumptions about sovereign credit.
🇺🇸 US
Source: CNN; S&P Global
🌍 Around the World
Spain's Flexible Dividend Gives Shareholders a Choice: Cash or Shares
Spain pioneered the dividendo flexible — scrip dividend programs that let shareholders elect between receiving cash or newly issued shares. Spanish banks and utilities leaned heavily on these structures, particularly through the financial-crisis era, making them a distinctive feature of the country's income landscape. For investors in names like Banco Santander or Iberdrola, understanding which form a distribution takes is as important as knowing the amount.
A Spanish 'dividend' can be part income, part capital tool — knowing the difference matters for every income investor.
🇪🇸 ES
Source: BME; Banco Santander investor relations
🔥 Dividend Streak
Shell's Storied No-Cut Streak Falls in the 2020 Oil Crash
For roughly 75 consecutive years since 1945, Shell maintained or raised its USD-denominated dividend, paying through every post-war crisis without a single reduction — a record that inspired deep loyalty among income investors. That unbroken resilience ended on April 30, 2020, when Royal Dutch Shell slashed its payout by 66%, from $0.47 to $0.16, to preserve cash as the pandemic cratered oil demand. It is a sobering reminder that even the most storied streaks can fall to macroeconomic shocks.
Shell's story draws a sharp line between a payment streak and a no-cut streak — they are not the same thing.
SHEL — Shell plc
🇬🇧 GB
Source: Shell Q1 2020 Investor Presentation; London Stock Exchange filings
🔥 Dividend Streak
Shell's Storied No-Cut Streak Falls in the 2020 Oil Crash
For roughly 75 consecutive years since 1945, Shell maintained or raised its USD-denominated dividend, paying through every post-war crisis without a single reduction — a record that inspired deep loyalty among income investors. That unbroken resilience ended on April 30, 2020, when Royal Dutch Shell slashed its payout by 66%, from $0.47 to $0.16, to preserve cash as the pandemic cratered oil demand. It is a sobering reminder that even the most storied streaks can fall to macroeconomic shocks.
Shell's story draws a sharp line between a payment streak and a no-cut streak — they are not the same thing.
SHEL — Shell PLC ADR
🇬🇧 GB
Source: Shell Q1 2020 Investor Presentation; London Stock Exchange filings
💡 Did You Know
Holding an MLP Inside an IRA Can Trigger a Surprise Tax Bill
MLPs are pass-through partnerships, which means the income they generate inside an IRA or Roth IRA is classified as Unrelated Business Taxable Income — UBTI. If that UBTI exceeds $1,000 in a single year, the IRA itself must file a tax return and pay taxes on the excess, quietly dismantling the shelter it was supposed to provide. Investors who want MLP exposure without the UBTI headache can turn to MLP-focused ETFs or ETNs structured as C-corps, which issue a standard 1099 instead.
The UBTI trap is one of income investing's quieter hazards — easy to miss, potentially costly to ignore.
Source: IRS Publication 598 (UBTI); Fidelity MLP tax guidance