By It was a tough week for clean-energy stocks after Donald Trump clinched the presidency, but for the short-sellers betting against them, the gains have been impressive.
Traders betting against renewables have gains on paper of about $1.3 billion since Trump’s win sent stocks in the sector tumbling, Bloomberg said.
Among the most shorted renewable names are Plug Power, SolarEdge Technologies, and Enphase Energy, which have each seen declines of over 24% since the market close on Tuesday. First Solar and Bloom Energy have also been popular targets for short-sellers and have lost about 11% and 3%, respectively, since Tuesday.
The renewables sell-off comes after Trump won the US presidential election earlier this week.
Trump, who frequently used the slogan “drill, baby, drill” while on the campaign trail, is expected to roll back many of the Biden administration’s clean-energy initiatives. In particular, Trump has long been critical of the Inflation Reduction Act’s billions of dollars toward solar and wind subsidies.
He could also slash subsidies for electric vehicles and the manufacturing of EV batteries in the US, and EV makers’ stocks have tumbled (excluding Tesla, which is headed by Elon Musk, a key Trump ally, and is expected to benefit from the president-elect’s return to the White House).
Trump is also expected to pull out of the Paris agreement again, which would remove the US from worldwide climate-diplomacy talks with Europe and China.
He has also promised to make it easier to develop energy infrastructure. In the spring, he asked top oil executives for a $1 billion contribution to his campaign in exchange for dismantling Biden’s environmental policies, handing out more drilling leases, and expediting permits for new liquefied-natural-gas exports, The Washington Post reported.
