The S&P Global Oil Index has increased 6.4% since September 27the stock market index which reflects the stock market performance of the 120 largest oil and gas companies in the world. Over the same period, its counterpart for companies linked to renewable energies, the S&P Global Clean Energy index, fell 4.5%, according to Bloomberg, which offers closing data from last Friday.
So far this year, he World Oil it is already up 6.3%; This increase contrasts with the decrease in Clean energy, which now amounts to 10.3%. The gap which separates the annual profitability of the two indices – which are the good brother and the bad from a sustainability perspective – has widened in recent days to around 17 percentage points (this is the largest gap since last July). He black gold skyrocketed in the heat of tensions in the Middle East, and the Brent It is already touching 80 dollars per barrel, which it has not seen since August 2023. Edmond de Rothschild AM sums it up: “The fourth quarter began something more volatile with the resurgence of geopolitical risk. Last week, Iran reacted to the barrel’s death. Hezbollah leader in Beirut with missile attack on Israel, causing risky assets to plummet. Concerns about possible Israeli retaliation against Iran have pushed oil prices up about 10%, although Saudi Arabia is threatening to increase production to protect its market share. ” explains the manager. After the latest increases, the market still expects an additional increase of 13% in the S&P Global Oil index within 12 months, according to Bloomberg, a potential which reaches 19% for the S&P index Global Clean Energy. Visit the specialized elEconomista ESG portal.
Giants like the British company are listed on the oil index Shell, which rose more than 8% on the stock market in October alone; the French company TotalEnergies, which shows a revaluation of almost 8%; the American ExxonMobil, which obtains a score of more than 6%; the Italian Eni, which increased by more than 5%, and Chevron, which increased by more than 2%.
For its part, the index linked to renewable energies, with around a hundred members from all over the world, includes major figures in the sector who are having a difficult month on the trading floor. One of them is the Danish Orsted, specialized in offshore wind power, which lost more than 6% in October; the Italian Enel, for its part, fell by more than 3%; Iberdrola falls almost 2%; and US companies Sempra and NextEra fell around 1% in both cases.
Smaller in size, the Spanish companies Solaria and Acciona Energía are also part of the S&P Global Clean Energy Index. Its stock market performance during the year is overwhelming, due to the negative: Solaria is the most bearish stock in the Ibex 35, collapsing so far by around 35% in 2024, while the subsidiary Acciona , the third worst, fell about 28% (between them are Grifols, which fell about 34%). In October, Solaria’s rebound stood out, close to 5.5%.
The month of October accelerated purchases of oil-related securities and penalized renewables, but in reality the latter’s worst behavior has been a constant throughout 2024. The delay in highly anticipated rate cuts has not favored the clean energy sector, which has seen how high rates have made it more expensive to finance these companies need to make investments, either in renewable energies or in networks.
