Stock markets break volatility streak, chems shares jump

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US stock markets broke a record string of volatility on Thursday, with the major indices rising modestly after a long streak of violent swings.

The table below shows the major indices followed by ICIS.

	19-Mar	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	20,087.40	188.48	0.95
S&P 500	2,409.39	11.29	0.47
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	430.36	5.28	1.24
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	437.25	7.35	1.71

Prior to Thursday, the S&P 500 had swung by at least 4% for eight consecutive sessions, breaking a record of six days set in November 1929, reported CNBC, which quoted LPL Financial.

Thursday’s modest rise came amid reports that the US is considering intervening in the oil dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The two plan to raise oil output once their production-cut agreement expires at the end of the month. The threat of unconstrained production caused oil prices to crash.

Crude futures rose sharply on Thursday, as shown in the following table.

	Month	Low	High	Open	Settle	Change
Brent	May	24.96	29.42	27.19	28.47	3.59
WTI	Apr	21.36	27.71	22.3	25.22	4.85

US chemical producers are vulnerable to low oil prices because they rely overwhelmingly on ethane and other natural gas liquids (NGLs) as feedstocks. As a result, US producers lose their cost advantage when oil prices fall in relation to gas. By contrast, much of the world stands to benefit, because they rely on oil-based naphtha.

Meanwhile, chemical companies continue to contend with the effects of the coronavirus (Covid-19).

The following shows the number of US cases.

US	18-Mar	19-Mar
Cases	7,038	10,442
Death	97	150
States	50	50

Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The following shows global cases.

World	18-Mar	Change from Wednesday
Cases	191,127	15,123
Death	7,807	786

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

The table below shows the major US-listed chemical companies followed by ICIS.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	13.11	0.71	5.73
Axalta Coating Systems	16.39	2.19	15.42
Braskem	5.01	0.22	4.59
Celanese	63.83	4.71	7.97
Dow	28.12	1.68	6.35
DuPont	31.66	-0.4	-1.25
Eastman	41.25	2.63	6.81
HB Fuller	29.08	0.83	2.94
Huntsman	15	-0.08	-0.53
Ingevity	31.23	3.39	12.18
Kraton	5.66	-0.8	-12.38
Kronos Worldwide	8.7	-0.26	-2.9
LyondellBasell	43.23	2.66	6.56
Methanex	10.56	0.47	4.66
NewMarket	389.83	-20.97	-5.1
Olin	12.68	1.72	15.69
PolyOne	13.37	3.24	31.98
PPG	76.56	3.64	4.99
RPM International	50.86	-2.14	-4.04
Sherwin-Williams	445.12	42.26	10.49
Stepan	98.3	-3.69	-3.62
Chemours	10.18	0.51	5.27
Trinseo	19.84	0.4	2.06
Tronox	5.13	0.34	7.1
Univar	8	0.92	12.99
Venator Materials	2.06	0.14	7.29
Westlake Chemical	37.13	4.18	12.69

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