Weakness in Australia and Canada’s equities and currencies has intensified flows into US stocks, reflecting investors’ concerns about global economic growth and resource demand in China and other emerging markets. At the same time, this shift in sentiment has lowered the bar of expectations for first-rate companies in both countries, giving savvy investors an opportunity to lock in above-average yields on some of our favorite dividend-paying names.

Lower expectations means that many of the stocks on our shopping last trade at their cheapest valuations in months. Although we can steer bargain hunters toward the names that have the strongest underlying fundamentals, forecasting when these markets will return to favor is an enterprise that’s fraught with peril; all these Australian and Canadian stocks could slip lower, especially if their local currencies continue to drop.

If you’re more comfortable investing in a space that has positive momentum, you should focus on energy-related master limited partnerships (MLP), a security class we covered at length in the previous issue of Energy & Income Advisor,