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Sparks

How Energy Transition Stocks Fared During the Market Rout

There were a lot of tariff losers, but only one tariff winner.

A graph puncturing solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The U.S. stock market has taken its worst hit this week since March 2020, with the S&P 500 falling over 10% in just two days, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 22% from its all-time high in December. The tremendous decline in stock values is a reflection of Donald Trump’s chaotic attempt at reordering the global economy, wrenching America’s average effective tariff rate to the highest level since 1909 — four years before the establishment of the federal income tax.

The clean energy economy has not been spared, although the effect has hardly been uniform. Some of the highest flying companies of 2024 and early this year — think Tesla or anyone selling power to a data center — have been some of the hardest hit, while some companies closer to the residential solar market have held their own.

Here’s a look at how some of these companies have performed over the past two days:

  • GE Vernova ⬇️ 18%
  • Sunrun ⬆️ 3%
  • Vistra ⬇️ 23%
  • NextEra ⬇️ 5%
  • Orsted ⬇️ 9%
  • EDP Renewables ⬇️ 5%
  • Brookfield Renewable Partners ⬇️ 9%
  • Enphase ⬇️ 8%
  • Constellation Energy ⬇️ 20%
  • Tesla ⬇️ 15%
  • First Solar ⬇️ 1%
  • Rivian ⬇️ 10%
  • Entergy ⬇️ 9%

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Sparks

These Are the Critical Minerals Exempt from Trump’s Tariffs

Plus 5 that got hit.

A mining truck.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has exempted some — but certainly not all — of the critical minerals necessary for the energy transition from the sweeping tariffs he announced Wednesday. Minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper are key components of clean energy infrastructure such as lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles or stationary storage, and copper wires, which conduct electricity in solar panels and wind turbines.

The White House has published a complete list of hundreds of products that are exempt from tariffs. We combed through the list looking for key transition minerals. Here are the ones that caught our eye, plus some that were notably left off. If you see anything on the list you think we missed, my inbox is open.

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Sparks

First Solar Is the Only Winner of Trump’s Tariffs

Just about every other renewable energy company is taking a beating today.

Donald Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

American solar manufacturer First Solar may be the big winner from the slew of tariffs Donald Trump announced yesterday against the world’s trading partners. Sorry, make that basically the only winner among renewable energy companies.

In a note to clients this morning, Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith wrote that “in this inflationary environment, we expect FSLR's domestic manufacturing to be the clear winner” in the long term.

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Sparks

Trump’s Pro-Gas, Transition-Skeptical Pick to Run the Nation’s Energy Data

Tristan Abbey would come to Washington from a Texas think tank that argues peak oil is way off base.

Donald Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s pick to run the Energy Information Administration works for a think tank that denies the existence of an energy transition.

The Energy Information Administration is the nation’s primary energy fuel and power forecasting agency. Since its inception in 1977, EIA has become a go-to source of data for many U.S. businesses, analysts, and policymakers alike. The agency’s previous administrators have been relatively apolitical academics and industry experts, including under the first Trump administration, whose EIA administrator came to the role from a faculty position at Rice University. The office’s current acting administrator is Stephen Nalley, who was appointed deputy administrator by Trump in 2018 after serving in various other roles at the agency.

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