The Year’s Most Hard-Hit Investment Themes Pick Up on Falling Treasury Yields

Confidence that the Fed’s tightening cycle is over led to a sharp drop in Treasury yields over the week, causing an unexpected reversal in sentiment towards thematic investments sensitive to interest rates.  Some of this year’s most underperforming themes were affected by the shift including the hydrogen economy, solar energy and wind energy themes which were up +5.00%, +7.42% and +3.16% respectively over the week.

Due to the capital-intensive nature of these themes, interest rate levels will typically have an impact on performance.  Lower interest rates result in reduced borrowing costs and consequently make these investments more attractive.

Similarly, developments within the hydrogen economy - a sector focused on harnessing hydrogen gas as a sustainable fuel source - have also been impacted by changes in Treasury yields. As with other renewable energies, the hydrogen economy relies heavily on funding for research and infrastructure development which is influenced by shifts in interest rates.

One company exemplifying this trend is Plug Power Inc., which specializes in providing clean-energy solutions through hydrogen fuel cell systems. Following last week's significant downturn (-46.68%), Plug Power’s stocks witnessed a rebound of 13.31% over the week despite the company warning it could struggle to stay afloat in 2024.

In this more supportive environment, VanEck Hydrogen Economy UCITS ETF (HDR0), Invesco Solar Energy UCITS ETF (ISUN) and Invesco Wind Energy UCITS ETF (WNDE) gained +5.68%, +7.84 and +5.38%, respectively. That being said, the week’s strong performance is still a long way from compensating for the double-digit losses the above-mentioned themes have suffered year to date.

Group Data:

Funds Specific Data: