 The utilities sector is made up of companies that provide electricity, natural gas, water, sewage and other services to homes and businesses. Many of these companies are heavily regulated, and include Duke Energy Corp. DUK, Southern Co. SO, and American Electric Power Co. Inc. AEC. Utilities stocks, as represented by the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF XLU, have underperformed the broader market with a total return of -0.7 compared to the SP; 500s total return of 8.7 over the past 12 months. These market performance numbers and the statistics in the tables below are as of May 26. 