Wall Street closed the last trading day of the month, Friday Aug. 30, with slight gains. Any gains or losses in the energy sector were also limited.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a 0.16% increase to close at 26,403.28, and the S&P 500 increased 0.06% to 2,926.46.
JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. rose 8.32% on nearly 5x average trading volume to settle at $21.87, after the company reported solar module shipments of 3,386 MW for the second quarter of 2019, an increase of 21.2% from 2,794 MW in the second quarter of 2018.
According to Gener Miao, chief marketing officer at JinkoSolar, U.S. trade policy is likely to drive the adoption of better technology in the country's solar market, potentially advancing industry efforts to improve solar's cost-competitiveness against other energy sources.
Among other solar companies, SunPower Corp. retreated 5.08% on nearly average volume to $12.52, and Enphase Energy Inc. declined 4.75% in brisk trading to settle at $29.67, while Vivint Solar Inc. advanced 3.33% on average volume to $8.06.
General Electric Co. shares closed up 1.73% in below-average trading to $8.25, following a report saying that the company's lawsuit concerning an alleged misrepresentation of insurance risk and securities fraud was partially dismissed.
Among electric and diversified utilities, NRG Energy Inc. gained 2.08% on light volume to $36.40; AES Corp. picked up 1.39% on close-to-average volume to $15.33; and Exelon Corp. added 1.09% in light trading to $47.26. Also of note, Vistra Energy Corp. gained 2.25% to $24.95 in light trading, while NextEra Energy Inc. dropped 0.92% to $219.08 in active trading.
The S&P 500 Utilities Sector saw a 0.05% increase to settle at 315.97.
EQT Corp. lost 5.40% in active trading to finish at $10.17. S&P Global Ratings on Aug. 29 revised its outlook on EQT from stable to negative, to reflect the company's "weaker-than-anticipated financial measures due to the decline in Henry Hub natural gas prices and the recent reduction in our gas price assumptions."
EQT also appointed Kyle Derham interim CFO and will conduct a search for a permanent CFO. The previous CFO and senior vice president, Jimmi Sue Smith, was terminated without cause effective Aug. 29.
Previously, S&P downgraded three Appalachian drillers after lowering its average gas price assumption to $2.25/MMBtu for this year and $2.50/MMBtu in 2020. On Aug. 30, Gulfport Energy Corp. fell 9.43% to $2.40; Range Resources Corp. retreated 5.57% to $3.56; and Antero Resources Corp. lost 5.93% to end at $3.17, all on below-average volume.
NGL Energy Partners LP rose 2.74% in brisk trading to close at $13.49. The partnership's board of directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $150 million of the company's outstanding units.
The S&P 500 Energy Sector was up 0.08% to 422.09, while the Alerian MLP Index declined 0.06% to 231.28.
Market prices and index values are current as of the time of publication and are subject to change. This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
