Here are 3 alternatives for investors looking to dodge the bond-market beatdown

Here are 3 alternatives for investors looking to dodge the bond-market beatdown U.S. stocks have kept chugging higher this year, but bonds haven’t been able to shake off a five-year slump. That has sent some investors interested in a diversified portfolio searching for alternatives. To be sure, investors today are receiving higher coupon payments on newly issued bonds than they have in decades.

But persistently rising yields have put pressure on prices of older bonds, leading to weaker total returns. Christine Idzelis is a markets reporter at MarketWatch and is based in New York.