Vestas, Orsted shares slip as election results suggest Trump close to victory
Investing.com – Shares in Vestas (CSE:VWS), the world’s biggest wind turbine maker, sank in early European trading on Wednesday as the results of the 2024 US presidential election suggested a likely victory for Donald Trump.
Analysts have previously flagged the ballot as a possible negative catalyst for the stock. Trump has promised to do away with offshore wind projects via an executive order on his first day in office, arguing that windmills both hurt the environment and kill whales and birds.
Vestas executives have said they are willing to work with the eventual winner of the election, whether it be Trump or his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. Harris, for her part, has been a supporter of offshore wind targets during her time serving in current President Joe Biden’s administration.
Denmark-based green energy group Orsted’s (CSE:ORSTED) stock price also tumbled in dealmaking in Copenhagen.
Trump has claimed victory in the election, saying the results give him a “powerful mandate.” Although the race has yet to be called in favor of the Republican candidate by most major networks and other news outlets, reported ballots out of a host of states indicate that he is on the verge of a win.
One network, Fox News, did call a victory for Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris after it projected he would win Wisconsin, a crucial swing state. Trump had garnered 277 electoral college votes, surpassing the 270 needed to win the election, while Harris had gained 226 votes, according to Fox News.
Fox News also showed the former president wrapping up the vote in several other key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, coverage by the Associated Press and other regional networks showed Republicans had taken a majority in the Senate, the upper chamber of the US Congress, and were also on track to win the House of Representatives, raising the possibility of a Republican sweep in the 2024 elections.
Such a scenario would present an easier path for Trump to enact major policy changes if elected.
(Reuters contributed reporting.)