Roger S. Conrad

When a stock surges or crashes, there’s always a reason. But barring a real change in business value, there’s always going to be a reversion to the mean: Laggards become the leaders and vice versa. It’s fair to say the artificial intelligence revolution was the key driver of returns for the top 15 performing stocks in the Conrad’s Utility Investor universe last year. Conversely, foreign currency weakness along with concerns about heavy debt and renewable energy’s future growth were the primary reasons for weakness of the bottom 10.

Is inflation really quelled? How fast will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates? And which campaign promises will the incoming Trump Administration push hardest to deliver?

The answers will literally make or break the S&P 500 in 2025. It’s one-third weighted in just 7 Big Tech stocks, already priced for perfection. And more stock market money is now passively invested than actively managed. So an S&P plunge would crunch many Americans’ wealth, and possibly the economy as well.

Nothing alarms income investors more than fear of dividend cuts. So accusing a trusted company of nearing one is a time-tested way to get attention—whether you’re a Wall Street analyst or a Seeking Alpha blogger. BCE Inc (TSX: BCE, NYSE: BCE) and Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) are recent targets of dividend cut speculation. But unlike the trio of companies currently on the Endangered Dividends List, actual risk is far less than it may first appear.

Electricity demand will grow six times faster over the next 20 years than it has over the previous 20. U.S. data center use alone will require 460 terawatt hours of new power by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent. Utility rates will have to rise at much as 70 percent by the end of the decade to pay for needed system investment. Big Tech companies are on the verge of financing a wave of new nuclear power construction.