US chem shares fall again amid tough earnings season

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US-listed shares of chemical companies fell on Friday with the general market as the latest earnings illustrate the magnitude of the slowdown caused by the coronavirus.

The following shows the performance of the major indices.

	1-May	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	23,723.69	-622.03	-2.55
S&P 500	2,830.71	-81.72	-2.81
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	519.18	-16.11	-3.01
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	524.26	-15.14	-2.81

The following shows the US-listed shares followed by ICIS.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	12.27	0.09	0.74
Axalta Coating Systems	18.87	-0.87	-4.41
Braskem	7.77	-0.08	-1.02
Celanese	79.31	-3.76	-4.53
Dow	33.93	-2.76	-7.52
DuPont	45.07	-1.95	-4.15
Eastman	60.02	-0.49	-0.81
HB Fuller	35.57	-1.22	-3.32
Huntsman	16.00	-0.81	-4.82
Ingevity	47.88	-4.04	-7.78
Kraton	13.90	-1.71	-10.95
Kronos Worldwide	9.21	-0.28	-2.95
LyondellBasell	55.16	-2.79	-4.81
Methanex	15.38	-0.50	-3.15
NewMarket	410.52	-0.92	-0.22
Olin	12.25	-1.10	-8.24
PolyOne	22.26	-1.03	-4.42
PPG	88.00	-2.83	-3.12
RPM International	64.08	-2.33	-3.51
Sherwin-Williams	526.44	-9.93	-1.85
Stepan	93.67	-1.73	-1.81
Chemours	10.93	-0.80	-6.82
Trinseo	18.88	-1.57	-7.68
Tronox	6.46	-0.36	-5.28
Univar	13.46	-1.06	-7.30
Venator Materials	1.22	-0.05	-3.94
Westlake Chemical	40.38	-3.07	-7.07

Several chemical producers reported first-quarter earnings that declined year on year.

Refiner Phillips 66 reported a Q1 net loss. The company’s chemical earnings from its Chevron Phillips Chemical joint venture rose, however.

ExxonMobil’s first-quarter chemicals earnings slumped year on year as the company swung to a group net loss.

AdvanSix’s first-quarter sales and profit fell, primarily due to unfavourable pricing.

AdvanSix makes nylon, and it was the only US-listed company followed by ICIS whose stock rose on Friday.

LyondellBasell reported a fall of 82% in first-quarter net income.

Huntsman reported a decline in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amorisation (EBITDA). Net income rose because of divestments.

Eastman’s first-quarter earnings rose because costs fell faster than sales.

For the US economy as a whole, manufacturing activity contracted for the second consecutive month in April, and at a faster rate than March, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) said.

In Europe, shares fell amid gloomy first-quarter earnings results.

Additional reporting by Stefan Baumgarten, Tom Brown, Jonathan Lopez and Juhi Varma

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