(GE Vernova's Greenville facility, SC. Image credit: GE Vernova)

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) and GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) announced a significant partnership for natural gas turbines and other associated equipment to meet the growing needs of advanced manufacturing, data centers and population growth.

The arrangement between the companies includes a plan to advance specific projects for up to 11, 7HA gas turbines consistent with Duke Energy’s integrated resource plans.

Officials said this will help the company meet its business strategy to provide reliable energy and keep customer costs as low as possible, as well as meeting even the most robust growth scenarios in the future.

This is in addition to the eight recently secured 7HA gas turbines.

“As we continue to experience unprecedented growth in our service territories, securing the necessary materials to build critical infrastructure and meet the energy demand is integral to delivering value for our customers and other stakeholders,” said Duke Energy President and CEO Harry Sideris.

He added, “We value our collaboration with forward-thinking partners who assist us in advancing our energy modernization strategy.”

Officials said the agreement is made possible because of the previously announced expansion of GE Vernova’s Greenville, South Carolina, facility to accommodate historic demand for gas turbines from new and existing customers.

The expansion, which is part of a nearly $600 million investment in U.S. manufacturing over the next two years includes a nearly $300 million investment in its Gas Power business in the U.S.

Officials said these investments will replace legacy manufacturing processes with lean manufacturing lines, supporting increases in supplier capacity, creating more than 1,500 new jobs in the country and other enhancements.

“This arrangement with Duke Energy and the significant expansion of our U.S. manufacturing facilities illustrate our ability and commitment to developing innovative solutions that our customers require to meet today and tomorrow’s energy demands,” said Scott Strazik, CEO, GE Vernova. 

He added, “We are proud to be able to supply these Greenville, SC manufactured gas turbines to a leading U.S. energy company and service to its consumers.”

Officials said locating the new assets at Duke Energy facilities enables them to utilize existing infrastructure, including transmission capabilities, significantly reducing cost and speeding time to market.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of America’s largest energy holding companies.

The company’s electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity.

Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.

Oconee Federal Financial Corp. (OTCQX: OFED), the holding company for Oconee Federal Savings and Loan Association, announced an authorized stock repurchase program pursuant to which the company intends to purchase up to 50,000 of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock, which represents approximately 0.86 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding shares.

Officials said the timing of the purchases will depend on certain factors, including but not limited to, market conditions and prices, available funds and alternative uses of capital.

The officials said the stock repurchase program may be carried out through open-market purchases, block trades, negotiated private transactions and pursuant to a trading plan that will be adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Any repurchased shares will be held by the company as treasury shares, the officials said.

Oconee Federal Savings and Loan Association is a federally chartered savings and loan association founded in 1924 and headquartered in Seneca, South Carolina.

Oconee Federal Savings and Loan Association is a community oriented financial institution operating eight full-service branch locations in Oconee County, South Carolina, Pickens County, South Carolina, Darlington County, South Carolina, Stephens County, Georgia, and Rabun County, Georgia.

In an economics report, Wells Fargo said the initial “Liberation Day” tariffs were more severe than expected, and despite a temporary rollback of most tariffs (ex-China), global growth prospects have once again diminished.

In its report, Wells Fargo said new tariffs, particularly elevated tariffs on China, will apply downward pressure on global economic activity. It now forecasts the global economy to grow just 2.3 percent this year.

It also said risks to its global growth forecast remain tilted to the downside, and the possibility of technical global recession remains elevated.

Wells Fargo also said:

* Economies particularly exposed to tariffs should underperform. In that sense, we now believe Canada's economy will enter technical recession this year. We continue to believe Mexico's economy will enter recession this year and revised our GDP outlook to reflect our view that Mexico's economy will contract on an annual basis in 2025. We also made a notable forecast revision to China and believe tariffs and other structural imbalances will result in China's economy growing just over 4% this year.

* Central banks, particularly in the G10, are likely to turn more dovish in response to tariffs. We believe dovish tilts will materialize from the European Central Bank and Bank of Canada and that the Bank of Japan will become less hawkish. Emerging market central banks will likely be more cautious; however, FX strength, lower energy prices and subdued growth prospects may create monetary policy space for institutions in the developing world to also pursue more easing or initiate easing cycles.

* We expect the U.S. dollar to rebound in the immediate period ahead, given our view that recent dollar depreciation is tactical and not a structural wholesale shift away from dollar-denominated assets. Over the second half of 2025, we expect the dollar to move sideways as the Fed cuts rates and the U.S. economy softens; however, over the course of 2026 we expect trend dollar strength to reappear.

Key Themes

* Tariffs and trade-related developments remain top of mind. Liberation Day prompted extreme market volatility, atypical moves across U.S. financial markets, and will likely generate new downward pressure on global economic activity. Tariff policy remains extremely fluid, and while we expect “trade deals” to be made going forward, the global economy will likely remain close to entering technical recession in 2025 and 2026.

* Central banks are in a difficult position as a result of tariffs, particularly the Fed. Tariffs are likely to be inflationary but also push U.S. growth prospects lower. With the Fed's mandated goals in tension, we believe the FOMC will opt to support the labor market and defend against recession by cutting interest rates 125 bps by the end of this year. G10 central banks are likely to ease as well, although emerging market policymakers may choose a more cautious path for monetary policy.

* Tariffs and subsequent market volatility have placed depreciation pressure on the U.S. dollar. While the dollar has performed unusually for an environment defined by global policy uncertainty and financial market volatility, we believe recent moves in U.S. financial markets are temporary. The U.S. dollar will remain the world's reserve currency for the foreseeable future, in our view, and we expect the dollar to regain traction going forward and strengthen on trend into 2026.