Suddenly, investors don't love dividends like they used to. Cue heartbreak for stocks that dividend-focused exchange-traded funds have been piling into.

Up until two weeks ago, buying dividend-paying stocks worked well. With the Federal Reserve committed to buying $85bn in Treasurys and mortgages a month, the possibility that bond yields would soon rise seemed low. So dividend-paying stocks were one of the few places income-minded investors could turn to.