October 2, 2023
When it comes to investing in the future, go with renewable energy over bitcoin
The trading charts for oil and renewable-energy stocks have diverged this year in a way that should open investors eyes.
Bitcoin is going gangbusters and getting all the attention. Still, it’s far easier to understand the dynamics in the energy markets, and they show that renewable energy is not going backward again.
The hyper-focus on Bitcoin is causing investors to miss another huge winner this year that they can understand.
Bitcoin is just one of many cryptocurrencies, and it is hard to embrace, if impossible not to follow, as it hits $8,000. It isn’t tangible, and it certainly is difficult to comprehend. Yet all we hear is how it’s up thousands of per cent this year. So you wouldn’t be blamed for figuring that you missed the best investment of 2017 — and possibly ever.
But another rising trend is right under your nose: renewable energy. Its potential returns might not come so fast, but I am confident it is here to stay, which is more than I am willing to say about Bitcoin.
It used to be that renewable-energy stocks were heavily correlated with carbon-based energy stocks. If the price per barrel of oil rose, so did alternative energy stocks because higher fossil-fuel prices would make renewable sources of energy more competitively priced. Same thing for the reverse. But that changed this year. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) is up year-to-date by as much as the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) is down, and it’s a massive divergence by any stretch.