ExxonMobile leads the stock market bears.
Photo:William Hartz, Creative Commons, Flickr
This morning, the stock market appears to be in for a wild ride. Mostly in terms of dropping, rollercoaster-style, straight down. MarketWatch reports on this morning's bloodbath:
U.S. stocks fell sharply Thursday, with the Dow industrials sliding over 240 points, after Exxon Mobil's worse-than-expected earnings and ongoing trouble in the financial sector sobered up the market after the euphoria of the Federal Reserve's rate cut.
And ExxonMobile (XOM) is right there, heading below $90 a share. With a poor earnings report (due largely to equipment problems and margin issues — oil prices continue to skyrocket), Exxon is leading the Dow plunge.
So, the next question is this: Is now the time to buy? Despite its blatantly unfriendly environmental practices, Exxon has always been a solid company, financially speaking. Is it likely to rebound from this? If you think so, and you aren't squeamish about buying into a company that is basically soulless, now might be the time to do it, since the stock is heading to lows unseen for quite some time.
The other question is whether or not Exxon is simply the face of the new way of energy investing. As oil prices rise, solar stocks tend to follow suit. And as gas prices follow rising oil prices, and worries about the stability of our oil supply mount, more people become concerned that perhaps we should be investing in alternative energy after all.
So, while it's true that SunPower (SPWR) is down this morning as well, it's not down as far as Exxon. And if enough people become concerned enough, maybe, just maybe, a significant shift in energy policy and consumption will follow. Alternative energy investing now, while the stock market is down, may provide you with a good bargain that will pay off big in the future.
Disclosure: I am not investing in the stocks listed above. I will never invest in XOM. I am considering SPWR and other alternative energy stocks.