Monday, November 5, 2012

The Market Vectors Coal ETF It's Either a Harbinger of a Romney Win or Completely Mispriced (KOL)

I hate straddles, in options and in life.
As a retail guy once said to a client when asked to explain the put and call legs of a straddle:

"I puts your money in my pocket and you don't calls me no more."

Since the first presidential debate on October 3 the MarketVectors Coal ETF is up 11%:
Chart forMarket Vectors Coal ETF (KOL)


Splits: none

This is from an admittedly low base but does show some enthusiam for the industry.
However...
From the Washington Examiner:

November surprise: EPA planning major post-election anti-coal regulation
President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency has devoted an unprecedented number of bureaucrats to finalizing new anti-coal regulations that are set to be released at the end of November, according to a source inside the EPA.

More than 50 EPA staff are now crashing to finish greenhouse gas emission standards that would essentially ban all construction of new coal-fired power plants. Never before have so many EPA resources been devoted to a single regulation. The independent and non-partisan Manhattan Institute estimates that the EPA’s greenhouse gas coal regulation will cost the U.S. economy $700 billion.

The rush is a major sign of panic by environmentalists inside the Obama administration. If Obama wins, the EPA would have another four full years to implement their anti-fossil fuel agenda. But if Romney wins, regulators will have a very narrow window to enact a select few costly regulations that would then be very hard for a President Romney to undo....MORE