Why Baker Hughes Stock Plummeted 40% in the First Half of 2020
Shares of Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) lost a massive 40% of their value through the first six months of 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That number, however, is actually an improvement. At one point in the span, the oil services company's stock had lost roughly two-thirds of its value.
The big issue is oil demand. When COVID-19 started to work its way around the globe, countries effectively shut their economies to slow its spread. Demand for oil, logically, plummeted. The supply/demand dynamic was already tilted a little too far toward supply when 2020 began. So when demand fell off a cliff, energy markets were suddenly massively oversupplied and oil prices fell sharply. In fact, oil prices briefly fell below zero -- effectively meaning that oil drillers were paying customers to take their oil.
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Source Fool.com
