Bulletin: Solar Stock Index Up 12.35% Today

After another mournful Monday on the Dow and NASDAQ both were up at day's end Tuesday. The DJIA gained 236.16 or 3.32%; the NASDAQ was up 54.11 or 3.9%. All but one company, Entech Solar, in this blog's 20 select solar stocks index was down if only by a cent. Overall increase was 12.35%.

Top gainers were Evergreen Solar (ESLR) at 21.01% up; Renesola (SOL), 18.86 up; and SolarFun at 15.4% up. In a conversation with a major panel manufacturer this morning, some large orders are coming in for spring delivery. After the bloodbath of the past two weeks, maybe traders simply saw pricing as too good to pass up.

Overall, tech stocks did well after the pounding sell-off yesterday. Banking stocks also rallied--if only for the day--on comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke.

"I don't see any reason to destroy the franchise value or to create the huge legal uncertainties of trying to formally nationalize a bank when that just isn't necessary," Bernanke stated before the Senate Banking Committee.

Two major banks most eyed for possible nationalization were both up. Bank of America climbed 82 cents a share to $4.73, 21% up. Citigroup closed 46 cents up to $2.60, 22% up.

More good news came from Home Depot which had higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings which likely raised investor's hopes on consumer spending. Home Depot went up $1.96 a share today, a 10% boost.

Solar Stock Update: Go Figure...

Dow at lowest since October '02

On Tuesday President Obama signed the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and the DJIA drops 298 points, the NASDAQ 64. The Dow lost 485 points for the week, the worst in over six years. Even for those who look at the stock market as just one barometer of the U.S. economy, it's not a pretty picture. The solar industry got a whopping $80 billion in combined benefits in the stimulus package so they must have done okay, right? 'Fraid not. All but two stocks in this index were down; an average decline of 6.87% on Tuesday alone. If that wasn't enough all 20 stocks were down an average 19.38% for the week. Go figure.

Word on the (Wall) street says talk of Bank of America and CitiGroup being nationalized has put a chink in investor confidence. Now talk about BofA head Ken Lewis's being subpoenaed by NY Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo about the Merrill Lynch acquisition last fall is a reason for today's funky stock market showing, i.e. down again. (Wasn't Lewis on 60 Minutes in December talking about BofA's great market position?) Add to that continuing crappy home sales and GM's verging on bankruptcy (scratching EVs for Hummers? Real smart.) exacerbates the downer mood.

Maybe the mainstreaming of solar stocks--which the PV industry always wanted--is not such a good thing anymore. If investors are sour on stocks generally then solar stocks are likely lumped in with the rest. But solar has to become a good investment on the roof and in a portfolio before very long. As more solar projects fall into place this spring and summer (and it's already starting), solar stock prices must logically do an about face. But let's face it: Had their been any uniform financial logic over the past eight years we wouldn't be in this mess.

Week of February 17-20

	Tuesday Open	Friday Close	Up/Down	% Change	Close 1/5/09
Dow Jones DJIA	7850.41	7365.67	-484.74	-6.18%	8952.89
NASDAQ	1534.36	1441.23	-93.13	-6.07	1628.03
Akeena Solar AKNS	1.81	1.47	-.34	-18.79	2.28
Amtel Systems ASYS	3.38	3.01	-.34	-18.79	4.00
Applied Materials AMAT	9.51	8.76	-.75	-7.89	10.67
Canadian Solar CSIQ	5.00	4.20	-.80	-16.00	7.00
ECD (UniSolar) ENER	28.95	24.62	-4.33	-16.96	29.33
Entech Solar ENSL.OB	.35	.272	-.078	-32.29	.28
Evergreen Solar ESLR	1.66	1.30	-.36	-21.69	3.60
First Solar FSLR	144.45	134.01	-10.44	-7.33	157.80
GT Solar Int. SOLR	5.13	4.22	-.91	-17.44	4.00
JA Solar JASO	2.66	2.27	-.39	-16.67	5.09
Kyocera KYO	64.00	61.34	-2.66	-4.16	71.87
LDK Solar LDK	10.65	6.12	-4.53	-42.54	14.84
MEMC Elect. WFR	16.11	13.75	2.36	-14.65	15.76
Renesola SOL	3.58	2.37	-.39	-16.67	5.15
Satcon SATC	1.28	1.19	-.09	-7.04	1.60
SolarFun SOLF	4.53	2.97	-1.56	-34.44	6.12
SunPower SPWRA	35.00	30.92	-4.08	-11.66	45.13
SunTech STP	9.46	6.86	-2.60	-31.49	13.55
Trina Solar TSL	8.54	7.49	-1.05	-12.30	10.09
Yingli YGE	5.76	4.07	-1.69	-29.35	7.25
Percent change all 20 stocks this week:				-19.38%