XLU (S&P Utilities) Recent Outperformance

XLU (S&P Utilities) is up 15% YTD and outperformed the S&P by 14%. A lot of the out-performance can be attributed to the defensive positioning of the market, recent slightly favorable EPA ruling and the market's desire to chase yields (dividends in this case). XLU puts make sense as vol has become cheap (in my view relative to mkt risks) and XLU should under perform the market if we rip into Q1 2012 or sell off with the broader mkt.