New quarterly records for dividend growth were posted in the U.S., parts of western Europe, Japan and several other Asian economies, raising the Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index to its highest level in three years.
In North America, dividends rose by 10.1 percent on a headline basis to $120.7 billion in the second quarter. U.S. dividend payouts totaled $111.6 billion, a 9.8 percent increase. Though it was responsible for a small portion of the total payouts, Canada’s dividend growth reached 14.8 percent in the second quarter.
In Europe, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium each posted quarterly records for dividend payouts, while dividends fell on a headline basis in Spain, Italy and the U.K. A weaker British pound dampened dividend growth in the U.K., as underlying dividend growth totaled 6.1 percent, despite a headline dividend reduction of 3.5 percent.