US chem stocks mixed as Dow Jones recovers from steep decline

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US-listed chemical stocks closed mixed on Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell again, although it rallied from the lows earlier in the day.

Minutes before closing, the index was down by nearly 4%. By the end of trading, it closed down by 1.39%.

The following shows the performance of the major US indices followed by ICIS.

	Friday	Thursday	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	25,409.36	25,766.64	-357.28	-1.39
S&P 500	2,954.22	2,978.76	-24.54	-0.82
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	555.81	561.32	-5.51	-0.98
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	553.83	560.1	-6.27	-1.12

Stocks fell as the coronavirus (Covid-19) continued to spread around the world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that outside of China, there were 4,351 cases in 49 countries and 67 deaths. Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Nigeria have all reported their first cases, all of which have links to Italy.

Given the spread of the virus, WHO raised its risk assessment of the coronavirus to very high. Still, WHO has seen no evidence of the virus spreading freely in communities. Until that happens, there’s a chance to contain the virus.

Markets fell even after the Federal Reserve issued a statement from Chair Jerome Powell, who said the Federal Reserve will act appropriately to support the economy.

“The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong,” Powell said in his statement. “However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook.”

Friday’s close marks a difficult week for the stock market. It fell into a correction on Thursday.

Among the US-listed chemical stocks followed by ICIS, pine-chemical producers Ingevity and Kraton as well as titanium dioxide (TiO2) producers Chemours, Kronos, Tronox and Venator fell the hardest.

From 21 February through 28 February, each of them fell by more than 20%. Nearly every company followed by ICIS fell by at least 10%

The following table compares the performance of the stock market at the close of 21 February and its close on 28 February.

	28 Feb	21 Feb	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	25,409.36	28,992.41	-3583.05	-12.36
S&P 500	2,954.22	3,337.75	-383.53	-11.49
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	555.81	642.33	-86.52	-13.47
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	553.83	637.40	-83.57	-13.11
AdvanSix Inc	14.53	17.78	-3.25	-18.28
Axalta Coating Systems Ltd	24.92	29.03	-4.11	-14.16
Braskem SA ADR repr Class A	12.10	13.92	-1.82	-13.07
Celanese Corp Class A	93.84	107.98	-14.14	-13.10
Dow Inc	40.41	48.30	-7.89	-16.34
DuPont de Nemours Inc	42.99	52.43	-9.44	-18.00
Eastman Chemical Co	61.43	73.60	-12.17	-16.54
H.B. Fuller Co	39.23	47.47	-8.24	-17.36
Huntsman Corp	18.97	20.90	-1.93	-9.23
Ingevity Corp	45.04	58.49	-13.45	-23.00
Kraton Corp	10.11	15.96	-5.85	-36.65
Kronos Worldwide Inc	10.00	11.46	-1.46	-12.74
LyondellBasell Industries NV	71.52	82.91	-11.39	-13.74
Methanex Corp	28.85	33.69	-4.84	-14.37
NewMarket Corp	389.68	424.64	-34.96	-8.23
Olin Corp	16.19	19.06	-2.87	-15.06
PolyOne Corp	24.78	29.60	-4.82	-16.28
PPG Industries Inc	104.42	118.90	-14.48	-12.18
RPM International Inc	64.11	73.74	-9.63	-13.06
Sherwin-Williams Co	516.62	573.61	-56.99	-9.94
Stepan Co	88.05	100.66	-12.61	-12.53
The Chemours Co	14.85	19.45	-4.6	-23.65
Trinseo SA	21.88	28.08	-6.2	-22.08
Tronox Holdings PLC	7.34	9.70	-2.36	-24.33
Venator Materials PLC	2.71	3.84	-1.13	-29.43
Westlake Chemical Corp	55.89	61.94	-6.05	-9.77

Thumbnail image by Shutterstock

Visit the ICIS Coronavirus topic page for analysis of the impact on chemical markets and links to latest news.