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China stimulus, US rate cut bets lift gold, silver soars above $30 mark
Gold prices, assisted by China's. stimulus measures, looked poised to clock their second. successive weekly gain on Friday on renewed expect U.S. rate of interest cuts, with silver breaking the $30 barrier to hit. an 11year high. Spot gold increased 1.5% to $2,412.83 per ounce by 1745. GMT, closing in towards an all-time high of $2,431.29 hit on. April 12. U.S. gold futures settled 1.3% higher at $2417.40. per ounce. Gold is moving greater in spite of (an uptick in) the dollar and. yields. I think in this instance, China stimulus has actually helped as. we're also seeing other (base) metals do effectively, stated Bart. Melek, head of product strategies at TD Securities. The market was lifted after China, a significant consumer of. industrial metals in addition to gold, revealed historical actions to. stabilise the crisis-hit property sector. Spot gold prices are up over 2% up until now today. On the other hand, London's gold cost criteria ended the week. at a record high of $2402.60 per troy ounce, the London Bullion. Market Association (LBMA) said. Ultimately gold is responding to the concept that U.S. inflation is probably under control ... any talk of an extended. period of high rates of interest is going to be mitigated, Melek. said. Traders anticipate roughly 2 quarter-point cuts from the Fed. this year, with November being the most likely beginning point. Lower rates of interest tend to enhance non-yielding bullion's. appeal. Spot silver jumped 4.8% to $31.02 per ounce after. breaking above a major resistance level of $30. The last time. silver struck the $30 rate level was in early 2021, however sustaining. it for an extended duration has actually eluded silver for more than a. years. Anytime we're discussing China stimulating, that is. accretive for platinum markets, Melek stated. Platinum included 2.3% to $1,081.37, after hitting a. one-year high up on Thursday. The metal is up 9% so far today. due to continued structural deficits. Palladium increased 1.2% to $1,007.
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French wheat conditions hold at 4-year low, maize planting picks up
The condition of French soft wheat crops steadied at a fouryear low last week while maize planting accelerated, data from farm workplace FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, after a warm spell helped rainsoaked fields dry. For soft wheat, 64% of the crop was approximated to be in excellent or exceptional condition by May 13, the same from the previous week but below 93% a year earlier, FranceAgriMer stated in a. cereal crop report. The score was the lowest for this time of year because 2020,. when crops were likewise held up by heavy rain throughout planting. France is the European Union's most significant wheat grower and. exporter. Weak crop development combined with a sharp fall in the. planted location could cause a much smaller harvest this year. The good/excellent score for durum wheat, used in pasta,. edged approximately 66% from 65% the previous week however stayed at a. four-year low for the period. The matching score for winter season barley was unchanged at. 66%, likewise a four-year low, while spring barley held steady at. 74%, a two-year low. For maize, 72% of the anticipated location had been planted by Monday. against 54% the previous week, though development tracked the. year-earlier rate of 85% and an average of 91% for the same week. over the previous five years. France's farm ministry this week forecast that the maize. area would leap by almost 10% this year after wet weather condition. disrupted sowing of earlier planted crops. While last week's summer-like weather condition assisted field work,. showers this week and more rain forecast next week could hamper. planting. A return to wet weather could also hinder a healing in. wheat conditions and increase issues about crop illness in. damp fields.
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US drillers add oil and gas rigs for very first time in 4 weeks - Baker Hughes
U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the very first time in 4 weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes stated in its closely followed report on Friday. The oil and gas rig count, an early indication of future output, rose by one to 604 in the week to May 17. . <Regardless of this week's rig boost, Baker Hughes said the. overall count was still down 116, or 16 %below this time last. year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs increased by one to 497 this week, . while gas rigs were the same at 103. The oil and gas rig count dropped about 20% in 2023. after rising by 33 %in 2022 and 67% in 2021, due to a decline in. oil and gas costs, greater labor and equipment costs from. skyrocketing inflation and as companies concentrated on paying down financial obligation. and enhancing shareholder returns rather of raising output. U.S. oil futures were up about 11% up until now in 2024. after visiting 11% in 2023. U.S. gas futures were up. about 3% so far in 2024 after plunging by 44 %in 2023. Oil output from top shale-producing regions will increase in June to its greatest in 6 months , while gas. production in the huge shale basins will slide to a five-month. low, the U.S. Energy Details Administration( EIA) said in. its regular monthly Drilling Productivity Report on Monday. Shale production, which represents about three-quarters. of total U.S. oil output, is rising due to improved well. performance. Production per new rig in the Permian basin that. straddles West Texas and New Mexico, is anticipated in June to. reach the highest month-to-month output per rig since November 2021.
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TotalEnergies strikes supply deal with Dangote on Nigerian refinery
French energy major, TotalEnergies, had actually struck its first supply handle Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Friday, following a meeting with Africa's richest male, Aliko Dangote. We satisfied this morning, we made the very first offer between both of us, Pouyanne told a panel at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. The 2 CEOs met with our head of trading and we found the method to persuade them to make a deal, he added. Dangote has been trying to secure crude products for his 650,000 barrels daily (bpd) refinery, the largest in Africa and Europe when it reaches full capacity. In May, the business put out a tender for 2 million barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland unrefined monthly for a. year beginning in July, a tender document seen revealed. The oil refinery, which began production in January, expense. $ 20 billion to build. Dangote intends to reverse Nigeria's reliance. on imports for fuel and other refined products even though the. nation is Africa's greatest oil producer. Dangote said the refinery had sufficient gas, diesel and. aviation fuel to provide the African continent and export to. Brazil. We started producing jet fuel, we are producing diesel, by. next month, we'll be producing gas. What that will do, it. will be able to take most African crudes, Dangote informed the. panel. Our capability is too big for Nigeria. It will be able to. supply West Africa, Central Africa and likewise Southern Africa, he. added. The next phase of the refinery will start early next year,. Dangote stated. TotalEnergies is among the major producers of crude in. Nigeria alongside Shell, Exxon and Chevron .
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Nickel, copper rise to multi-month highs on New Caledonia, China
Nickel rates leapt to the greatest in nine months on Friday on unrest in nickel producer New Caledonia, while copper surged to a 26month peak after China revealed fresh support for its ailing residential or commercial property sector. Three-month nickel on London Metal Exchange (LME). rose 5.2% to $20,820 a metric heap by 1600 GMT after touching. $ 21,365, the highest considering that August 2023. Analyst Dan Smith said the rallies in nickel and copper may. push higher in the short term as speculators keep buying, however. supply-demand outlooks would ultimately spur corrections,. particularly in nickel. We have actually seen some unusual rallies in the sense that investors. do not seem to care much about fundamentals, he said. We're a bit negative about how far the nickel rally can run. You look at the base metals and the one with the worst. principles is nickel. Rioting in French-ruled New Caledonia stimulated a massive. operation to restore control of the capital Noumea in a nation. that accounted for 6% of international mine nickel output in 2015. Supply from New Caledonia is significant enough to move the. needle, however it's absolutely nothing compared to Indonesia. Supply growth. from Indonesia is pretty fantastic and is just going to overload the. market in 6 to 12 months. LME copper climbed 2.3% to $10,662 per ton, the. greatest given that March 2022. The marketplace was lifted after China announced historical steps. to stabilise the crisis-hit residential or commercial property sector, a significant consumer of. industrial metals. The statement came after China released information on Friday,. revealing better-than-expected factory output, but retail sales. unexpectedly slowed and the residential or commercial property sector stayed a drag on. the economy. U.S. Comex May copper futures rebounded after losses. in the previous session, advancing 3.2% to $5.05 a lb., heading. back towards its record peak of $5.1775 touched on Wednesday. amid a brief squeeze. Some of the steam was gotten of the U.S. market on. Thursday when some celebrations with short positions rolled them. forward instead of closing them out at a loss, traders stated. In other metals, LME aluminium added 1.1% to $2,614. a heap, zinc got 2.3% to $3,027.50, tin. innovative 2.1% to $34,445 while lead alleviated 0.5% to. $ 2,283.50. For the leading stories in metals, click.
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Uprooted by Brazil floods, foreign refugees 'start all over again'
Tens of countless Haitians and Venezuelans who discovered sanctuary in southern Brazil after escaping hunger, violence and natural disasters are being required once more to reconstruct lives now wrecked by record flooding in Rio Grande do Sul state. Reginald Descilong left Haiti after he lost family and good friends in the terrible 2010 earthquake. He got to Brazil three years later, crossing Central America on foot and by bus. Today, the 39-year-old and his better half and three daughters are in a. public shelter in the swamped state capital Porto Alegre. It appears that disaster is always chasing us. I got here however. the issues don't stop. We lost whatever in our home. underwater, and we can't even return there by boat, he said. I don't understand where I'm going now. We need to start all over. again, he informed . The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. ( UNHCR) has information on 43,000 refugees residing in the state,. consisting of 29,000 Venezuelans and 12,000 Haitians. Rio Grande do Sul was among the top three states to get. refugees in a federal humanitarian program that transferred. migrants running away Venezuela on Brazil's northern border. Numerous, like Descilong, got steady tasks with full advantages. Over 14,000 refugees found official work in Rio Grande do. Sul from 2011 to 2019, more than any other state, according to. data from Brazil's Justice Ministry. The most typical home for the state's refugees has been in. the Sarandi neighborhood on the north side of Porto Alegre,. which was the most wrecked by flooding after a dike collapsed. More than 26,000 Sarandi locals with homes undersea are. now in numerous shelters in the city. Numerous left whatever behind. as they escaped the increasing floodwaters, including documents now. lost permanently, raising extra concerns for the immigrants. Venezuelan Carina Gonzalez, 27, needed to leave a knapsack with. her documents and those of her 11-year-old child when she. left her house in chest-deep water. My spouse informed me to let go of the backpack or my pet. I. wasn't going to leave my canine, so I let go of the knapsack with. my files, Gonzalez recalled. We are immigrants and we. can't do anything without a file, she included. Many people have actually lost the files they had, their. migration documents, their provisional ID that will need to be. reissued so they do not remain undocumented in Brazil, stated. UNHCR official Silvia Sander. Carina and her spouse Xavier said their tasks are safe, for. now, but they are worried about getting to operate in a city where. downtown streets are still under water. They crossed into Brazil in 2018, running away political tensions. and recession in surrounding Venezuela. The floods have. thrust them into turmoil again. We don't even know where we are going. We have no. location right now, said Xavier.
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Esgian Week 26 Report: Drilling Activity is High
Esgian provides an update on drilling activity in its Week 26 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsVentura Offshore has been granted exclusive marketing rights from Hanwha Drilling LLC for the newbuild 12,000-ft 7th generation drillship, Tidal Action, for an ongoing tender process in Brazil.Transocean has announced a 365-day contract extension for the 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Asgard with an independent operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.Northern Ocean Ltd.-owned 7,500-ft semisubmersible Deepsea Bollsta has been awarded a one-well contract with an undisclosed operator offshore Namibia.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesExxonMobil is drilling the Lau Lau-2 appraisal well on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana with Noble 12,000-ft drillship Noble Sam Croft.The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has granted Equinor a drilling permit for an exploration well in the North Sea offshore Norway.Masirah Oil Limited (MOL) is evaluating the performance of the Yumna-5 well at the Yumna field on Block 50 offshore Oman after the recent completion of a multi-well program on the block ahead of schedule.Partner Ecopetrol has confirmed that Petrobras is currently drilling the appraisal well Uchuca-2 on the Tayrona Block offshore Colombia.OMV (Norge) AS has started drilling the Haydn gas prospect in the Norwegian Sea with the 10,000-ft semisub Transocean Norge.Vår Energi has made an oil and gas discovery in well 36/7-5 S Cerisa and sidetracks 36/7-5 A, B, and C, located in the North Sea offshore Norway.Longboat Energy, the operator of Block 2A, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, said Thursday that a Competent Person's Report has confirmed the giant scale of the Kertang prospect located within the block.Equinor has completed the drilling of the Argerich-1 well on CAN-100 offshore Argentina with the 12,000-ft Valaris drillship Valaris DS-17.CGX Energy Inc. and Frontera Energy, joint venture partners in the Corentyne block offshore Guyana, have submitted a notice of potential commercial interest for the Wei-1 discovery to the government of Guyana.Aker BP and its partners have discovered gas in wildcat well 7324/8-4 (Hassel) in the Barents Sea, around 300 kilometers from the northern coast of Norway.DemandADNOC Drilling is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) to provide one jackup rig for the Middle East for ADNOC Offshore for one of its gas fields.ExxonMobil Guyana Limited has submitted an Application for Environmental Authorization for a potential seventh offshore project around the Hammerhead discovery on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana.Mobilisation/Rig MovesSaipem-managed 375-ft jackup Perro Negro 9 is being towed from Ras Tanura to the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY) in Bahrain.Noble’s 350-ft CJ50 jackup, Noble Resilient, has completed its contract in the Danish sector of the North Sea and is now moving to the UK sector ahead of a new contract with Harbour Energy.Transocean's 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Aquila has started its inaugural contract with Petrobras in Brazil.Rig SalesTransocean has entered into an agreement to sell the 9,600-ft semisubmersible Deepwater Nautilus and associated assets to an undisclosed party for $53.5 million.Seadrill Limited has completed the sale of the 400-ft jackups West Castor, West Telesto, and West Tucana, along with the 50% equity interest in the GulfDrill joint venture that operates the units offshore Qatar, to joint venture partner Gulf Drilling International for $338 million.Ventura Offshore announced on 27 June 2024 that it will acquire the 6th gen Intl 10,000-ft semisubmersible SSV Catarina for a gross price of $105 million.Other NewsMexican conglomerate Grupo Carso has completed its acquisition of PetroBal Operaciones Upstream S.A. de. CV, which holds a 50% interest in the Ichalkil and Pokoch fields on Contractual Area 4 offshore Mexico.The Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) on Friday 21 June 2024 ruled that ONE-Dyas can continue the offshore activities on gas production project N05-A in the North Sea.Conrad Asia Energy has signed a binding gas sales agreement (GSA) with PT Pertamina’s subsidiary PGN for the sale of gas from the Mako gas field development in Indonesia.Australian oil and gas company 3D Energi and ConocoPhillips have negotiated a consolidation of farm-out obligations, allowing the $30 million T/49P well carry obligation to be applied in either the T/49P or VIC/P79 offshore blocks in Australia’s Otway Basin.Source Energy has entered into an agreement to sell its 20% share in licences PL878, PL878 B, and PL 878 C, containing the Atlantis discovery, to ORLEN Group’s PGNiG Upstream Norway.TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to acquire a 60% interest and operatorship in Block STP02, offshore Sao Tome and Principe, from the Agência Nacional do Petroléo de S. Tomé e Principé (ANP-STP).Petronas, through Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), has signed a Small Field Asset (SFA) Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with Vestigo Petroleum for a Discovered Resource Opportunity (DRO) cluster, which was marketed under the Malaysia Bid Round Plus (MBR+).TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to sell its entire interest in West of Shetland assets in the United Kingdom to The Prax Group.
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Texas braces for more summer electrical power signals: Kemp
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has actually warned reserve margins will be squeezed next week as temperatures increase and it may require to advise generators to delay nonurgent upkeep. ERCOT is the independent system operator for the majority of Texas, handling the circulation of power to more than 27 million consumers representing about 90% of state-wide load. ERCOT has issued comparable cautions several times over the last month, after issuing numerous alerts calling on customers to lower their power intake last summer season to avoid the danger of rolling blackouts. The state's summer power scarcities are mainly the result of fast population and financial development, which has actually left generators struggling to keep pace with the rapid increase in load. The state's resident population increased to 30.5 million in 2023 from 22.0 million in 2003, a typical yearly increase of 1.6%. The state economy grew at an average yearly rate of 3.4%. in between 2017 and 2023, compared to 2.2% for the nation as a. whole. As an outcome, state electrical energy sales increased to 487. billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2023 from 323 billion kWh in. 2003, a typical annual boost of 2.1%. Texas power sales have actually grown more than 3 times quicker. than in the rest of the country, where they increased at an. typical rate of simply 0.6% per year between 2003 and 2023. DEVELOPMENT AND SECLUSION Like other fast-growing electrical power systems, such as those. in China and India, ERCOT has actually struggled with regular inequalities. between generation and load. It is much harder to balance generation and load, while. maintaining an adequate reserve margin, in a system. characterised by quick development than one with flat or decreasing. demand. Flat or decreasing load usually means there are a lot of. legacy generators no longer in regular service however that can be. contacted us to launch when reserve margins become tight. ERCOT does. not have that option. The system's issues are intensified since it has couple of. links with power networks in the rest of the country that would. enable it to import power when there is a local shortfall. Texas has made a political choice to restrict cross-border. affiliations with other states to avoid oversight of its. electrical energy system by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ( FERC). In contrast to other states, Texas has likewise up until recently. avoided the concept of paying power plants to maintain extra. capability, instead of for the systems of electrical energy actually. produced. To decrease overall expenses, the state has run an. energy-only market rather than a capability market too. Rather than paying for reserve capacity that will be idle. for much of the year, Texas has depended on high wholesale rates. to motivate minimal generation and force load reductions at. times when margins are low. Chartbook: Texas electrical power usage ERCOT's balancing issues are especially severe during the. summertime, when daytime loads peak far greater than in the. remainder of the year as a result of comprehensive air conditioning. But reserve margins can also be depleted in the spring and. autumn shoulder seasons, when lots of gas-fired, coal-fired and. nuclear generators are taken offline for maintenance. Heatwaves that get here earlier than usual in the spring, or. occur behind regular in the fall, stretch power materials. due to the fact that lots of generators have actually scheduled regular downtime. To rebuild reserve margins, dependability managers can provide. ' no touch' orders to generators and transmission owners. advising them to hold off any but the most immediate. upkeep. If that still proves insufficient to increase reserve margins. to a healthy level, grid supervisors can order flat-out 'optimum. generation' from readily available units. Eventually, the grid can look for numerous forms of voluntary. demand reduction; concern notifies calling for customers to conserve. electricity; and in the last resort by force disconnect loads on. a rotating basis. HANDLING HEATWAVES The proliferation of crypto-mining operations and data. centres, connected with huge loads, appears to have. turbocharged growth in electrical power consumption in 2022 and 2023. Nevertheless, since of population and economic development, Texas. electricity usage has actually set records most years just recently,. regardless of whether the summer season has been particularly hot or. not. Heatwaves have actually nonetheless extended resources to the limitation,. and required the grid to undertake amazing steps to improve. short-term generation and decrease load. In recent weeks, ERCOT has been counting on no-touch orders,. a few of them consequently cancelled, to maximise the generation. and transmission resources readily available in durations of warm weather condition. Last summer, it relied greatly on emergency situation signals broadcast. to consumers requesting for electrical energy conservation when reserve. margins were particularly low. The state experienced a total of 2,687 cooling degree days. between May and September 2023, the second-highest on record. after 2011. August and September 2023 were much hotter than normal,. forcing the grid to issue numerous alerts to generators and. customers. But the mix of higher wholesale costs and duplicated. appeals for preservation appear to have actually blunted load growth. effectively. The variety of cooling degree days was up by 23% in between May. and September 2023 compared to the exact same period in 2021, while. electrical power sales were only 16% higher. It is simple to criticise ERCOT's duplicated balancing. problems, but the system's issues are those of rapid. development, so they are great problems to have. ERCOT's grid managers have been effective at balancing the. system, provided the historical absence of a capability market and. the political unwillingness to adjoin with neighbouring. grids. Related column: - Texas population growth drives tape electrical power. use( August 15, 2023) John Kemp is a market expert. The views expressed. are his own. Follow his commentary on X https://twitter.com/JKempEnergy.
Meme stock squeezes and brand-new tariffs shock United States solar sector: Maguire
A slew of U.S. solar stocks jumped to life today amidst a revival in retail financier purchasing socalled meme stocks and news that the Biden administration is enforcing new tariffs on Chinese solar equipment that may support U.S. manufacturers.
Share costs in U.S.-listed solar firms consisting of Sunpower Corp, Maxeon Solar and Sunnova Energy all jumped more than 20%. this week as they took advantage of a wave of investor purchasing of. stocks that have actually been battered for the previous year or so.
The Biden administration's brand-new tariffs on numerous China-made. items consisting of solar elements and electric automobiles likewise. jazzed up trading activity in related stocks.
ECLIPSED
Solar equities may lack the profile of meme stock leviathan. GameStop, which rallied to its highest because 2021 this. week as posts from Roaring Cat Keith Gill raised chatter. about the return of the main figure behind the 2021 meme. stock craze.
However, stocks connected to companies mainly engaged in the U.S. residential solar sector have taken a drubbing and seen a surge. in short-seller interest because 2022 as rising rate of interest. slowed need for property solar systems.
SunPower, Maxeon and Sunnova share rates all plunged. roughly 90% in between mid-August 2022 and May 1,2024, and until. today looked set to deal with continued headwinds in 2024 on a. higher for longer interest rate outlook.
However, the downbeat tone pervading the solar area has. been overthrown this week by the one-two punch of the meme stock. revival alongside the heightened concentrate on the solar space from. Biden's fresh tariffs and accompanying rhetoric about supporting. U.S. businesses.
OVERSOLD?
Stocks in SunPower have been amongst the most active in the. solar space this week, posting a record one-day gain of approximately. 60% on May 14 as a purchasing craze took hold.
The producer and installer of large scale planetary systems. has acquired considerable losses given that California enacted new. net-metering charges a year ago that greatly minimized the appeal. of household planetary systems in the state.
The business's miserable stock price performance over the past. year or two showed the dour operating conditions, and the firm. revealed a significant restructuring last month.
However, the stock has likewise been a preferred among. short-sellers during much of its descent, with brief interest. representing over 90% of the overall quantity of shares readily available to. the general public since April 30, according to LSEG.
Such uneven investor placing left the stock vulnerable. to a short covering rally on any abrupt shift in market. belief, such as seen this week.
UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK
Many of the obstacles that have beleaguered U.S. solar business. over the past year remain in place, including high interest. rates that have snuffed out the appeal of financing the. installation of rooftop solar systems.
And the new tariffs imposed on Chinese components today. may really get worse market conditions for some companies which rely. on imported parts.
Nevertheless, after a roughly 90% collapse in the cost of. some solar business shares since 2022, there was perhaps only. limited room for additional stock price weakness going forward,. and lots of scope for a rebound.
Now that a major rebound has actually occurred, many opportunistic. investors will no doubt have actually put fresh short-sided bets on. solar stocks, on the assumption that costs will revert to their. drop once the brief covering melee runs its course.
However provided how aggressive the upside price relocations have actually been. this week, most short-sellers will stay mindful about placing. very large bearish bets, and will be all set to loosen up positions. if the market runs against them.
That modification in belief may take some of the pressure off. the solar sector in basic over the near term, and might permit. stock prices to creep higher still on any upbeat news products or. incomes reports.
And if U.S. rates of interest are considered as most likely to come down. later in 2024 - making the financing of planetary systems more. tasty - some investors with a long-term outlook may begin to. see the beaten-down solar space as a bit of a deal.
Such a sentiment swing would have been considered as extravagant. simply a couple of weeks ago.
But now that ratings of short-sellers have actually been damaged and. pushed out by today's bull run, a change in the frame of mind of. solar stock holders is on the cards, and a brighter outlook. can't be rule out.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist. .