Sell-off hits US chem shares in worst day since March

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US-listed shares of chemical companies fell sharply on Thursday in their worst day since the sell-off in stock markets in March, amid worries that the nation faces a second wave of coronavirus infections.

The table below shows the performance of the US-listed companies followed by ICIS.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	12.10	-2.28	-15.86
Axalta Coating Systems	21.68	-1.79	-7.63
Braskem	10.18	-0.70	-6.43
Celanese	85.51	-9.06	-9.58
Dow	39.27	-4.32	-9.90
DuPont	49.69	-4.00	-7.44
Eastman	66.53	-9.11	-12.04
HB Fuller	37.76	-4.22	-10.05
Huntsman	17.79	-1.37	-7.15
Ingevity	48.33	-6.12	-11.24
Kraton	14.77	-2.51	-14.50
Kronos Worldwide	9.45	-0.95	-9.13
LyondellBasell	63.81	-9.77	-13.27
Methanex	19.70	-2.42	-10.92
NewMarket	398.48	-35.57	-8.19
Olin	12.78	-0.62	-4.63
PolyOne	25.08	-2.28	-8.33
PPG	99.34	-9.70	-8.90
RPM International	71.86	-7.36	-9.29
Sherwin-Williams	546.28	-34.68	-5.97
Stepan	93.34	-6.08	-6.12
Chemours	13.65	-2.41	-14.98
Trinseo	20.48	-3.06	-13.00
Tronox	6.78	-1.19	-14.94
Univar	15.76	-1.54	-8.90
Venator Materials	1.82	-0.26	-12.50
Westlake Chemical	51.38	-3.82	-6.91

The performance was comparable with 18 March.

The general stock market also logged its steepest declines since March, as shown in the table below.

	11-Jun	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	25,128.17	-1,861.82	-6.90
S&P 500	3,002.10	-188.04	-5.89
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	567.89	-50.50	-8.17
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	570.38	-48.91	-7.90

Oil prices also fell sharply, as shown in the following table.

	11-Jun	10-Jun	%
Brent	38.55	41.73	-7.62
WTI	36.34	39.60	-8.23

The declines in oil and stock markets came amid signs that the number of cases are growing in individual US states, while they continue to loosen work and travel restrictions.

The Associated Press reported that hospitals in the state of Arizona have been told to prepare for the worse. The state of Texas is sending more people to the hospital for coronavirus than ever before.

Johns Hopkins University shows that the three-day moving average of new infections is becoming more pronounced in several US states.

The number of cases in the US is approaching 2m, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fatalities exceed 110,000, making the disease deadlier than recent bouts of influenza.

Worries about the coronavirus overwhelmed the weekly jobless report from the US Department of Labor. During the week that ended on 6 June, jobless claims reached 1.54m, down by 355,000 from the previous week.

In Europe, chemical stocks also suffered heavy losses.

The industrialised nations club OCDE published one of the most pessimist forecasts yet for this year.

The European Stoxx 600 index, with 30 chemicals listed firms, was down nearly 4% approaching the closing of the session.

In Asia, chemical stocks also fell.

Focus article by Al Greenwood
Thumbnail image by Shutterstock
Additional reporting by Jonathan Lopez and Nurluqman Suratman
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