Before the elections, all mainstream media polls had Joe Biden ahead and favored to win. As an outspoken proponent of transitioning away from fossil fuels and embracing green energy, it was no surprise that renewable energy stocks were doing well. Then November 3 came and went. As the chaos continued on November 4, renewable stock slid downward.
There is always another election
Joe Biden, should he be elected, has his own Green New Deal, which he would like to implement. But, because Republicans have retained a majority in the Senate, he would unlikely be able to realize his plan to transition the nation away from fossil fuels. But the transition isn’t permanently blocked. More elections are always on the way, and there are always other roads to follow.
According to Travis Houin at The Motley Fool, “Despite the fact that federal policies or incentives may not change much in the next two years, that doesn’t fundamentally undermine the solar industry. The president controls tariffs and policies related to how solar energy will compete against fossil fuels, and those changes may be more important than subsidies from Congress. So if Biden wins, it would still be bullish for the solar industry.”
Fossil fuel stocks
Fossil fuel stocks were also uneven on November 4. Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC, said, “The impact of a Biden Presidency and Republican Senate at face value is modestly negative for crude in the short term as it reduces the size of potential stimulus and increases the odds of Iranian barrels hitting the market in 2021.”
However, the most significant factor affecting crude prices will most likely remain the fallout over government reactions to the COVID pandemic. Joe Biden has been quite explicit about how he would handle the ongoing pandemic. If he is told to do it, he will not hesitate to lock down the nation, just as countries across the Atlantic are now doing, despite the devastation to their economies.
With the coming winter, the COVID pandemic panic will only increase. Now, we can add to it the uncertainty of the presidential election. The entire nation and the U.S. stock market, in particular, is holding its collective breath until the next shoe falls.
