A record number of energy companies filing for bankruptcy coupled with poor performance by the industry in 2019 has made it incredibly hard to find investments in the energy space that can be considered safe or promising.

The industry’s favorite benchmark, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, which tracks the price and yield performance of companies in the energy sector, has returned just 2.7% compared to the 24.2% produced by the S&P 500 year-to-date, easily one of the biggest laggards in the entire market.

But first, let’s look at some popular energy instruments that have turned quite risky for the average investor.

Snake oil bonds?

Many investors tend to turn to bonds when the stock markets become choppy.