What happened
Plug Power (PLUG -6.95%) shares have dropped nearly 47% year to date, so a continuation of that trend this week shouldn't be too much of a surprise. What is surprising, though, is that the company came out with some good news for its business this week, and the stock still didn't react well. But then some bad news came, and Plug Power stock is down more that 20% from last-Friday's close, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
The big news from a Bloomberg report late last night is that Senator Joe Manchin will not support spending on climate measures that would benefit companies like Plug Power. Democrats were trying to include that in an economic agenda supported by President Joe Biden.
Now what
Plug Power is working to build out a network of green hydrogen production facilities across the U.S. That would have gained support from spending intended to address climate change in President Biden's broad economic agenda. But Manchin told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he will only support a bill that's confined to lowering prescription drug costs and other healthcare measures, according to the Bloomberg report. Manchin has backed away from any support on renewable energy projects due to the current state of the economy, it said.
In the past week, Plug Power has announced plans to build a green hydrogen generation plant in Europe, as well as the sale of a 5 megawatt electrolyzer to a Canadian energy company. Investors didn't reward the stock for those seemingly positive developments. And news that there won't be legislation coming to aid further growth of hydrogen production in the U.S. knocked shares down even further for the week.
