Wells Fargo flags out-of-favor utilities as next AI beneficiaries paying dividends on AI data center electricity demand impact on utilities sector.

According to @QCompounding, growth in owner’s earnings equals EPS growth plus dividend yield, and Apple AAPL’s example uses 11.3% EPS growth and a 0.4% dividend yield to imply 11.7% owner’s earnings growth (source: @QCompounding). For equity traders, this provides a quick total return proxy to benchmark required return, inform fair P E assumptions, and screen for names where EPS acceleration or dividend hikes can lift expected shareholder yield (source: @QCompounding). The source does not mention cryptocurrencies and cites no direct crypto market impact, so this is an equity-focused valuation framework without stated crypto linkage (source: @QCompounding).

According to @StockMKTNewz, the S&P 500 paid a record $78.92 in dividends in 2025, a 5.5% increase from 2024 (source: @StockMKTNewz, X, Jan 7, 2026). The index has posted 16 consecutive annual dividend increases, with reported totals of $74.83 in 2024, $70.30 in 2023, and $66.92 in 2022 (source: @StockMKTNewz, X, Jan 7, 2026). For trading, the updated cash distribution run-rate provides a concrete benchmark for equity income screens and cross-asset yield comparisons that crypto traders monitor alongside BTC and ETH risk sentiment (source: @StockMKTNewz, X, Jan 7, 2026).