Despite spate of mediocre news market analysts are still standing by coal companies

摘要

Over the past couple of weeks the coal industry in the U.S. has looked like Sly Stallone's Rocky: A couple of black eyes, blood dripping, multiple cuts and bruises from being punched too much. The good news is Wall Street prefers the Rocky from Rocky II and not the original because they have the coal companies winning in the end. With steam coal prices in Central Appalachia falling and those in the Powder River Basin a sort of shaky-kneed steady, market analysts can find a lot wrong with the champ going into the next round. (OK, knock it off with the Rocky analogies...the ed.) It would be easy for stock analysts to pull almost any of the traded companies off the buy board but, for the most part they are still acting the part of Mickey and telling Rocky/the coal companies to hang in there (sorry, I couldn't help myself).