Solar ETFs Under Pressure
NEW YORK (
) -- Solar and alternative energy ETFs sold off on Friday, as markets gave a thumbs down to results from
First Solar
(FSLR) - Get First Solar Inc. Report
and
MEMC Electronics
(WFR)
reported on Thursday.
First Solar beat earnings expectations, but solar sector bears chose to beat down the stock by 7.42%
on pricing pressure concerns and subsidy reductions
. MEMC missed earnings estimate by 3 cents and the stock is among the worst losers on Friday morning, dropping 15.2% to $9.55.
Market Vectors Solar ETF
(KWT)
, which has a 10.2% holding in MEMC and a 9.6% holding in First Solar, shed 4.2% on Friday to end at $11.18.
Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF
TheStreet Recommends
(TAN) - Get Invesco Solar ETF Report
and
iShares S&P Global Clean Energy ETF
(ICLN) - Get iShares Global Clean Energy ETF Report
were also heading lower.
Appetite for gold returned again on Friday. Gold prices headed higher as the dollar sank to a 2010 low on weak economic growth data. The
SPDR Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get SPDR Gold Shares Report
rose 1.1% to $115.50. The
Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF
(GDXJ) - Get VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF Report
, which invests in higher-risk, higher-return gold stocks, also gained 1.8%.
-- Reported by Shanthi Venkataraman in New York.
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