US chem shares rise as stock market stages large swing

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US-listed shares of chemical companies rose on Monday after the stock markets swung from sharp losses earlier in the day.

Stock markets opened lower amid fears of a resurgence of the coronavirus.

China on 13 June imposed lockdowns in parts of Beijing following evidence of a new virus cluster at one of its districts.

In the US, individual states are reporting rising numbers of infections and hospital visits.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by more than 2% in early trading. The declines started eroding as the morning progressed.

The average turned positive after the Federal Reserve said it would buy corporate bonds.

The following shows the performance of the major indices.

	15-Jun	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	25,763.16	157.62	0.62
S&P 500	3,066.59	25.28	0.83
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	582.62	2.91	0.50
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	585.23	4.33	0.75

The following shows the performance of the companies followed by ICIS.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	12.71	-0.18	-1.40
Axalta Coating Systems	22.81	0.62	2.77
Braskem	9.60	-0.25	-2.54
Celanese	88.67	0.15	0.17
Dow	42.00	0.77	1.86
DuPont	51.69	0.68	1.33
Eastman	69.42	-0.21	-0.30
HB Fuller	40.42	0.41	1.02
Huntsman	18.56	0.54	3.00
Ingevity	51.74	1.49	2.97
Kraton	16.26	0.27	1.69
Kronos Worldwide	10.11	0.45	4.66
LyondellBasell	67.23	0.62	0.92
Methanex	20.43	-0.06	-0.29
NewMarket	402.25	7.57	1.92
Olin	12.90	-0.25	-1.90
PolyOne	25.88	-0.02	-0.08
PPG	102.76	1.13	1.11
RPM International	74.39	1.00	1.36
Sherwin-Williams	569.39	21.77	3.98
Stepan	95.98	1.26	1.33
Chemours	15.34	0.34	2.27
Trinseo	22.44	0.78	3.58
Tronox	7.43	0.29	4.06
Univar	18.03	1.67	10.21
Venator Materials	2.19	0.03	1.39
Westlake Chemical	54.17	1.15	2.17

Oil prices also rose, as shown in the following table.

	15-Jun	12-Jun	%
Brent	39.72	38.73	2.56%
WTI	37.12	36.26	2.37%

In Europe, petrochemical shares changed little.

In Asia, petrochemical shares were mostly lower.

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