Renewable Energy Revival & Fed Plays Their Next Hand - Daily Financial News & Insights for Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Fed Pledges Support & GrubHub Looks To Europe – Daily Financial News Summary for Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Stocks fell on Wednesday, as investors heard from the Federal Reserve about their updated financial policy. The Dow Jones dropped by 0.69, the S&P 500 by 0.53, and the NASDAQ by 1.04. The Federal Reserve released its latest policy statement today. Interest rates are to remain unchanged at their range of 0% – 0.25%, as was expected by investors. Federal officials have estimated that the unemployment rate at the end of 2020 will be at 9.3%. In future years, it is expected to remain unnaturally high, with an estimated 5.5% by the end of 2022. Output for the year is predicted to be 6.5% lower this year as compared to last year. For 2021, the output should rise by 5%. Said Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell: “Nearly 20 million jobs have been lost on net since February. The downturn has not fallen equally on all Americans.” The Fed has indicated that they will support the economic recovery and will continue to buy government-backed debt, such as mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities, in order to keep the market at a functional level. The United States budget deficit has close to doubled due to the additional spending for pandemic relief purposes. The deficit has grown to $1.88 trillion, which is a new record. At this point last year, the deficit was near $730 billion. https://callputstrike.com/2020/06/10/fed-pledges-support-grubhub-looks-to-europe-daily-financial-news-summary-for-wednesday-june-10-2020/ Lower Costs Lead To Renewable Energy’s Revival In the past, the United States has never made a considerable effort to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Even though we have had the ability and the technology available for many years, it has simply been more convenient to use fossil fuels and coal. However, due to the global pandemic, the United States is on track to start using renewable energy more than fossil fuels for the first time in history. Lower Costs of Infrastructure In an effort to encourage more places to use renewable energy, the cost of the industry has decreased significantly in recent times. The cost to build a large wind farm has dropped by over 40% over the last ten years. Solar costs have dropped by over 80% during that same time frame. In addition to this, the cost of natural gas has fallen to the lowest that it has ever been during 2020. Many companies are recognizing this shift in costs and have been adjusting the way that they do business. For instance, Xcel Energy, which is a large electric utility company in Colorado, announced that they would be replacing their older coal-fired units ten years earlier than originally planned. They switched these with wind, solar, battery storage, and natural gas alternatives, saving them $213 million in total. https://callputstrike.com/2020/06/10/lower-costs-lead-to-renewable-energys-revival/