US chem shares rise amid market rally

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Most US-listed shares of chemical companies rose on Tuesday amid a general rally in the stock market.

The table below shows the US shares followed by ICIS.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	13.00	0.28	2.20
Axalta Coating Systems	22.65	-0.18	-0.77
Braskem	9.69	0.09	0.94
Celanese	89.42	0.43	0.48
Dow	42.12	0.14	0.33
DuPont	52.98	0.99	1.90
Eastman	71.29	1.69	2.43
HB Fuller	41.99	1.46	3.60
Huntsman	19.11	0.52	2.80
Ingevity	54.60	2.69	5.18
Kraton	17.18	0.82	5.01
Kronos Worldwide	10.40	0.23	2.26
LyondellBasell	68.92	1.64	2.44
Methanex	21.80	1.41	6.92
NewMarket	406.03	5.72	1.43
Olin	13.14	0.22	1.66
PolyOne	26.09	0.06	0.21
PPG	104.29	1.09	1.06
RPM International	76.23	1.53	2.05
Sherwin-Williams	575.62	5.61	0.98
Stepan	95.96	-0.12	-0.12
Chemours	16.35	0.98	6.38
Trinseo	22.50	-0.04	-0.18
Tronox	7.77	0.34	4.51
Univar	17.83	-0.32	-1.74
Venator Materials	2.22	0.04	1.83
Westlake Chemical	55.01	0.69	1.27

The table below shows the major indices followed by ICIS.

Dow Jones Industrial Average	26,289.98	526.82	2.04
S&P 500	3,124.74	58.15	1.90
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	595.13	12.51	2.15
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	597.08	11.85	2.02

Stock markets rose after the US reported that May retail sales rose by 17.7% over April. Year on year, May retail sales in the US were down by 6.1%.

Earlier in the day, there were reports of a possible infrastructure stimulus plan that was being considered by the federal government.

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

	16-Jun	15-Jun	%
Brent	40.96	39.72	3.12%
WTI	38.38	37.12	3.39%

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the collapse in oil demand in the first half of 2020 has proven less severe than expected, with the market expected to return to growth next year.

In the US, formulator PolyOne said it expects a 20% year-on-year decline in second-quarter sales as the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand for its products.

Much of the decline could be attributed to the automobile market.

US-based Axalta Coating Systems’ net sales for April and May fell 48% year on year. By month, May sales rose 15% from April, and the company expects June sales to rise over May.

Axalta makes automobile paints and coatings.

Additional reporting by Tom Brown, Stefan Baumgarten

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