Tuesday's surging oil price rippled throughout various segment's of the economy.
Unsurprisingly, big oil companies like Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people ), Royal Dutch Shell (nyse: RDSA - news - people ), ConocoPhillips (nyse: COP - news - people ), and Petroleo Brasileiro (nyse: PBR - news - people ) gained 1.2%, 0.8%, 2.0%, 2.6%, in late-afternoon trading, respectively. And predictably oil services and equipment companies like Halliburton (nyse: HAL - news - people ), Schlumberger (nyse: SLB - news - people ), Weatherford International (nyse: WFT - news - people ), and Willbros Group (nyse: WG - news - people ) jumped 2.3% 2.3%, 3.1%, and 3.4%, respectively.
The gains though were not limited to the oil industry or rational behavior. Even though oil accounts for 2% of electricity production in this country--a negligible amount--the high-flying solar sector rallied on the back of black-gold's gains.
"It's more psychological than operational as the price of oil has no direct bearing on the price of electricity," said Michael Carboy of Signal Hill Group. "What happens though is rising oil prices are equated to rising energy prices and solar gets a good tailwind as a result."
That leap of reason gave solar stocks an even greater bounce than their oil counterparts as companies like SunPower (nasdaq: SPWR - news - people ), First Solar (nyse: FSLR - news - people ), Evergreen Solar (nasdaq: ESLR - news - people ), Trina Solar (nyse: TSL - news - people ), and Canadian Solar (nasdaq: CSIQ - news - people ), gained 6.1%, 4.0%, 7.8%, 7.1%, and 17.2%, respectively.
If investors can take anything away from the discrepancy, it’s the immaturity of the solar sector. For all the lofty predictions about its future, the stocks are still a beta play on the market.
