Trump’s Courtship of Midwest Vote Fuels 54% Surge for Pacific Ethanol

(Bloomberg) -- For an idea of how big a deal planned policy changes are for the U.S. biofuel industry, take a look at Pacific Ethanol Inc.

The Sacramento, California-based company’s shares surged as much as 54 percent on Monday in trading volume that was more than 19 times the daily average. The stock closed up 43 percent.

It was Pacific’s biggest gain in more than four years and comes a day before President Donald Trump is set to announce that he’ll grant a year-round waiver to allow sales of higher blends of corn-based ethanol in an effort to court Midwest voters. The administration may also announce reforms of the market for biofuel compliance credits that are traded by Wall Street banks.

Shares in another biofuel producer, Green Plains Inc., also rose, albeit it far less dramatically. Pacific’s outperformance may be explained by its underperformance before today: it was the worst among global biofuel stocks tracked by Bloomberg this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi

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