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.

The cold hard message is sinking in. Higher rates are here to stay for longer than expected. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has said multiple times that the Fed will be 'data-driven' when deciding on monetary policy. And the data has spoken. First, let's look at inflation. There has been great progress made in knocking inflation down from its peak of 9.1% in June of 2022. But achieving progress at the current lower levels, with inflation in the low-3% range, as expected, has been difficult. The Fed has been specific, saying inflation needs to be at 2% before restrictive policy will be eased. The Fed was patient after the January inflation data, and again with February data. But when March showed persistently higher prices, the Fed threw came right out and said that change can wait. Chairman Powell said the following last week. "The recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence..." and "If higher inflation does persist, we can maintain the current level of restriction for as long as needed." Now let's consider unemployment. The Fed again has been specific. Officials are looking for a 4.1% unemployment rate to gently (hopefully) slow the economy. Currently, the rate is not budging and is vacillating between 3.8% and 3.9%. Given the current macroeconomic backdrop, the following is a list of industries and companies we like that should benefit from a sustained period of higher interest rates. All are BUY-rated at Argus.

Based in Pittsburgh, PNC provides a range of retail and commercial banking, residential mortgage lending, and asset management services. It has operations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Alabama, Virginia, Missouri, Georgia, Wisconsin and South Carolina. In May 2020, PNC disposed of its 22% stake in BlackRock Inc. (BLK) in a registered offering. Proceeds were subsequently used to acquire BBVA USA Bancshares, the Houston-based U.S. banking subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, in June 2021.

The major indices gapped higher to start the April 15 trading week, but gave up their gains by lunchtime and then saw some strong downside acceleration before stabilizing in the final hour. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 1.2% and was down 2.6% in two days, booking the largest drop since late in October of 2023. Since its all-time high (ATH) close on March 28, the SPX was off 3.7%, its largest 11-day drop since October. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fell 1.7% for a two-day decline of 3.2%. The index had given back 3.4% since its March 22 all-time high.