One sector which is definitely not celebrating Barack
Obama's re-election as the President of the United States for the next four
years is the coal sector.
Coal companies are apprehensive that Obama will be
imposing stricter environmental regulations on the sector.
Should
Investors Buy The Coal Sector After Today’s Slump? Find Out Here
The Obama Administration, through the Environmental
Protection Agency, had set rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power
plants. This has forced companies to retire many of their coal-fired plants or
install expensive new pollution-control equipment.
Shares of coal companies such as Peabody Energy
Corporation(NYSE:BTU) -2.39 (-8.23%), Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.(NYSE:ANR) -0.98
(-10.19%), CONSOL Energy Inc.(NYSE:CNX) -2.08 (-5.85%), Walter Energy,
Inc.(NYSE:WLT) -2.85 (-7.63%) and Arch Coal Inc(NYSE:ACI) fell more than 12%.
The sector had some hopes that if Mitt Romney had been
elected he would have soft-pedalled the issue as he had against excessive imposition of environmental regulations
against the coal companies, which he said had hampered growth.
Some of the coal companies however are feeling
relieved that the elections are over and the uncertainty is at an end.
"We believe that this issue caused a temporary
slowdown in economic growth both in the United States and globally," James
River Coal Co.'s Chief Executive Peter Socha said in a statement announcing the
company's quarterly results.
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