Utilities Up As Investors Seek Out Renewable-Energy, ESG Plays -- Utilities Roundup

Shares of power producers rose as investors sought out the sector as a play on renewable energy. Shares of NextEra Energy, a Florida utility with a concentration in renewable energy, rose.

NextEra briefly overtook Exxon Mobil as the largest broadly defined U.S. energy company by market capitalization, a financial expression of the dramatic shift to renewables, said Mark Haefele, strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note to clients.

The success of investment in renewable energy has inspired a broader move into "Environmental Social and Governance" investments, according to one brokerage.

"Many ESG themes focus on risks that are 'slow-then-fast': how renewables advanced and then disrupted utilities provides a playbook for how to identify tailwinds at the sector level that can last a decade or more," said strategists at brokerage Jefferies, in a note to clients.

Shares of FuelCell Energy slid after short-selling firm, Night Market Research, alleged the company lost two contracts in its backlog and didn't disclose the blow in a fundraising completed last week.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-05-20 1720ET