Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding company in the U.S. At the end of 2024, the utility had a net value of property and equipment assets of about $123 billion. For 2024, revenues were about $30 billion, with regulated electricity accounting for about 92% of the total. After the sale of its commercial renewables business in 2023, it became a fully regulated utility company. It serves approximately 8.4 million electric customers in six states in the Southeast and Midwest, and 1.7 million natural gas customers. Duke also has one of the largest regulated nuclear generation fleet in the U.S., with six nuclear generators in North and South Carolina. Duke is focusing expansion on transmission and renewable generation. It plans to own or purchase 16,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025 and to eliminate coal usage by 2050. At the end of 4Q24, the company's generation fuel mix was about 15% coal, 45% natural gas, 37% nuclear, and 3% renewables. DUK shares are a component of the S&P 500 and its market cap is about $93 billion.

When Walmart Speaks, People Listen This week, Walmart reports earnings and new data on inflation and consumer spending will be released. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%, the S&P 500 shed 0.5%, and the Nasdaq was down 0.3%. All three indices are in the red for the year, with Dow down 3%, the S&P 500 lower by 4%, and Nasdaq off by 7%. The earnings headliner this week is Walmart, which is due to report on Thursday. In addition, reports come from Fox and Hertz on Monday; On Holding, Unilever, and Under Armour on Tuesday; Cisco Systems, Sony, and Alcon on Wednesday; and Applied Materials, CAVA Group, and Deere on Thursday. Some 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported so far, and earnings for the quarter are up 14% from the prior-year quarter. That is far above the consensus, which called for EPS growth of 3%-8%, and follows 17% growth in 4Q24 EPS and 9% growth in 3Q24, according to LSEG. For the current quarter, Healthcare is the leading sector, up 46%, and Energy is at the bottom, down 16%. On the economic calendar, an update on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) comes out on Tuesday; Retail Sales, Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, and the Producer Price Index (PPI) are featured on Thursday; and Housing Starts and the University of Michigan's read on consumer sentiment are atop the list on Friday. The Economic Call of the Week from Argus' Chief Economist Chris Graja, CFA, is for another strong quarter from Walmart. Chris offers the following. 'Walmart's quarterly earnings are one of our favorite economic indicators because 145 million customers shop at Walmart every week in the U.S. The company provides valuable insights on trends in customer spending and inflation. We expect an update on tariffs and the availability and cost of merchandise for back-to-school and the holidays.' In addition, Chris expects this week's economic calendar will answer three important questions about the economy. Are tariffs showing up in prices? Are consumers still doing okay? And, finally, are inflation expectations well-anchored? Here are Chris's forecasts. First, he expects Tuesday's report on CPI to provide some hard data on whether tariffs are beginning to show up in consumer inflation. We may see higher year-over-year prices for new and used cars and lower prices for gasoline. Second, he expects Thursday's report on retail sales to show that consumers remain resilient. Strong vehicle sales to front-run tariffs should help year-over-year growth. Restaurant sales have implications for the big services component of GDP. Third, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey is admittedly 'soft' data, but still allows for an update on inflation expectations. A decision by the Fed to ease interest rates may depend on the belief that inflation expectations are well-anchored near 2%. While market expectations based on Treasury yields appear to be in pretty good shape, the expectation for one-year inflation was high, at 6.5%, in the April Michigan survey. A decline in May would be most welcome. On other important data, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow measure forecasts 2.3% for 2Q. This follows a surprise decline of 0.3% for 1Q GDP. The Argus growth estimate for GDP has been lowered to 0.5% from 1.3% for full year 2025. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast forecasts a 2.4% rate for CPI for May, which is higher than the April rate. Mortgage rates stayed flat last week, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.76%, according to FreddieMac. Gas prices ticked up two cents to an average of $3.15 per gallon for regular gas. Looking ahead, the next Fed rate decision is on June 18, with odds for a rate cut having dropped to 17%, according to the CME FedWatch rate tool. After that, the next meeting is on July 30, and odds jump to 60% for a cut.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

Duke Energy is one of the largest US utilities, with regulated utilities in the Carolinas, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky that deliver electricity to more than 8 million customers. Its natural gas utilities serve more than 1.6 million customers.