News Code : 44677

US chem shares plunge amid growing virus cases

US chem shares plunge amid growing virus cases

 

Petrotahlil --US-listed shares of chemical companies fell sharply, as several states continue to report rising number of coronavirus cases and hospitalisations.

The table below shows the US-listed shares followed by ICIS.

  $ Current

Price

$ Change % Change
AdvanSix 10.94 -0.57 -4.95
Axalta Coating Systems 21.44 -0.8 -3.6
Braskem 8.96 -0.7 -7.25
Celanese 82.96 -2.91 -3.39
Dow 38.45 -2.9 -7.01
DuPont 51.54 -1.37 -2.59
Eastman 66.85 -2.48 -3.58
HB Fuller 41.05 -1.34 -3.16
Huntsman 17.57 -0.72 -3.94
Ingevity 49.34 -2.34 -4.53
Kraton 15.43 -0.79 -4.87
Kronos Worldwide 9.39 -0.18 -1.88
LyondellBasell 60.64 -5.35 -8.11
Methanex 18.58 -1.53 -7.61
NewMarket 388.11 -9.57 -2.41
Olin 11.31 -0.89 -7.3
PolyOne 23.8 -0.9 -3.64
PPG 101.88 -1.81 -1.75
RPM International 73.1 -1.73 -2.31
Sherwin-Williams 566.65 -9.68 -1.68
Stepan 90.54 -1.38 -1.5
Chemours 15.05 -0.5 -3.22
Trinseo 20.49 -2.02 -8.97
Tronox 6.84 -0.42 -5.79
Univar 16.49 -0.65 -3.79
Venator Materials 1.81 -0.23 -11.27
Westlake Chemical 52.57 -2.09 -3.82

Many of the stocks performed worse than the general market, as shown in the table below.

  24-Jun Change %
Dow Jones Industrial Average 25,445.94 -710.16 -2.72
S&P 500 3,050.33 -80.96 -2.59
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index 569.42 -19.51 -3.31
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index 573.67 -18.94 -3.20

The declines in the stock market took place as some states in the US continued to report rising cases of the coronavirus.

CNBC reported that the Florida Department of Health reported another record increase in cases.

Reuters reported that California reported a record increase of more than 6,000 new cases on Monday.

The Associated Press reported that Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma reported single-day records this week.

The number of cases in the US rose by 34,313 on Wednesday from Tuesday, reaching a total of nearly 2.34m, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fatalities rose by 784 to reach a total of 121,117.

The concern is that hospitals could become overwhelmed with new cases, forcing governments to re-impose restrictions on travel and work.

The result would cause demand for chemicals and other commodities to fall.

Oil futures also fell, as shown in the following table.

  24-Jun 23-Jun %
Brent 40.31 42.63 -5.44%
WTI 38.01 40.37 -5.85%

In the US, Dow expects to take an additional $350m hit to its second quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), mostly because of a slow recovery in consumer durables and other big-ticket items.

The additional hit is based on the current consensus earnings estimate, said Howard Ungerleider, Dow's chief financial officer. He made his comments during the Virtual 2020 BMO Chemicals & Packaging Conference, hosted by BMO Capital Markets.

By ICIS 

END 

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