With respect to comparisons to its own historical levels, our research shows that the starting trailing 12-month dividend yield for German Equities at the beginning of a calendar year had a strong relationship to the subsequent performance over the next 12-month period.
We divided the 42 full years of index data into two baskets sorted by the trailing 12-month dividend yield as of December 31 of each year:
• “High Dividend Yield Years”: Years in which the starting trailing 12-month dividend yield was above the
median trailing 12-month dividend yield for German Equities.
• Median Breakpoint: The median trailing 12-month dividend yield was 2.51%.
• “Low Dividend Yield Years”: Years in which the starting trailing 12-month dividend yield was below the
median trailing 12-month dividend yield for German Equities.