AVC: What Is Going to Happen in 2017?
Trump will hit the ground running, cutting corporate and personal taxes, and eliminating the preferential treatment of carried interest capital gains. The stock market has already factored in these tax cuts so it won’t be as big of a boon for investors as might be expected, but the seven-and-a-half-year bull market run will be extended as a result of this tax cut stimulus before being halted by rising rates and/or some boneheaded move by President Trump which seems inevitable. We just don’t know the timing of it. The loss of capital gains treatment on carried interest won’t hurt professional investors too much because the lower personal tax rates will take the sting out of it. In addition, corporations will use the lower tax rates as an excuse to bring back massive amounts of capital that have been locked up overseas, producing a cash surplus that will result in an M&A boom. This will lead to an even more fuel to the fire that is causing “old-line” corporations to acquire startups.
The IPO market, led by Snapchat, will be white hot. Look for entrepreneurs and the VCs that back them to have IPO fever in 2017. I expect we will see more tech IPOs in 2017 than we have since 2000.
Sun & Wind Energy: InnoEnergy Invests €2 Million in NexWafe's Solar Breakthrough
InnoEnergy, the innovation engine for sustainable energy across Europe, has committed a €2 million investment in NexWafe, a developer of highly efficient solar wafer production technology called EpiWafer. The companies have also joined forces to commercialize NexWafe’s breakthrough technology.
EpiWafers can save up to 50 percent in the costs of manufacturing PV wafers. By cutting out several energy-intensive and costly development stages, as well as saving on material, the technology enables NexWafe to go straight from raw material to wafer form.
The project -- Epicomm -- will support NexWafe in developing its German-based pilot line of solar wafers, characterizing cells and modules built out of those wafers, and planning for mass-scale production.
Forbes: 2017 Energy Outlook: 4 Must-Follow Sectors For Investors
1. OPEC: Market watchers will need to keep tabs on OPEC and non-OPEC monthly production decreases to see if key oil producers are adhering to their quotas under both the November OPEC production agreement and December OPEC/Non-OPEC production agreement. Oman, Venezuela and Kuwait are already implementing production cuts, as is Saudi Arabia. As 2017 progresses, however, those keeping tabs on global oil production need to watch Iraq, Iran and Russia. These are all countries that produce over 3.5 million [barrels per day] and are not motivated to cut.
2. North American Oil Producers: 2017 is not likely to see a roaring return to the exuberant shale oil production of 2012 and 2013. Many companies, like Continental Resources and Pioneer Natural Resources, increased their shale oil holdings significantly over the last two years and, while optimistic, are proceeding cautiously with production. Just because shale oil production can be restarted quickly does not mean it must. All eyes are currently on the hottest shale play right now, the Permian Basin in Texas. It is also important to keep tabs on the Bakken region in North Dakota.
Utility Dive: Final Batch of Obama Efficiency Rules Could Test Trump Administration
The Obama administration closed out 2016 with new energy-efficiency standards for five product classes, potentially saving between $15 billion and $35 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
But because of a waiting period before the rules can be published in the Federal Register, it will be up to Donald Trump's incoming administration to finalize the new standards. Eliminating regulation, however, was one of the President-elect's main campaign promises. The new rules are not particularly controversial, and cover portable air conditioners, pool pumps, walk-in coolers and freezers, commercial boilers and uninterruptible power supplies.