U.S. BUSINESS BRACES FOR CHANGE

THE U.S. FORTUNE 500 IS COMING OFF A BANNER YEAR, AND ITS RANKS HAVE SELDOM BEEN MORE STABLE. BUT U.S. CEOS FEEL ANYTHING BUT COMFORTABLE.

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BETWEEN THE RISE of AI, the persistence of inflation, and the huge question marks around President Trump's agenda, there's no shortage of reasons these days for business leaders to lose sleep over what-ifs. Amid all this anxiety, it's surprising to learn this: The Fortune 500, our authoritative list of America's largest companies, has never been more stable.

In this year's edition, our 71st, only 22 companies from the previous year were displaced—the second-lowest total in the past 30 years. Seven of this year's 10 largest companies have been part of that exclusive club every year for the past decade. Walmart has been No. 1 for 13 years in a row. These Goliaths are performing well, too: In the aggregate, the Fortune 500 generated a record $1.87 trillion in profits last year (see our deeper dive on page 52).

The key phrase there is “last year”: The Fortune 500 is backward-looking, based on companies' most recent full-year results, so it doesn't capture the turmoil of