Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 17 June.

US chem shares plummet amid market sell-off as inflation persists
US-listed shares of chemical companies plunged on Monday – with many posting losses as high as 5% – on concerns that the US Federal Reserve might raise the federal funds rate more than a half point during its meeting on Wednesday.

TotalEnergies will not shift capex strategy as governments push for more oil and gas production – CEO
France-based TotalEnergies will continue to take a balanced approach to capital investment (capex), even as governments push oil and gas companies to expand production, its CEO said on Tuesday.

Slowdown in flexible foam demand limiting US polyether polyol demand
Demand for US polyether polyols is facing a sluggish outlook on slowing demand for flexible polyurethane foam applications, keeping supply levels broadly sufficient even as feedstock propylene oxide (PO) availability remains limited.

Westlake Chemical declares systemwide FM on chlorine and caustic soda
Westlake Chemical declared a systemwide force majeure on chlorine and all grades of caustic soda in a letter to customers on Wednesday evening citing “sudden and unanticipated failures of critical processing equipment”.

US spot benzene reaches record highs on tight supply, improved demand
US spot benzene prices reached record highs this week, with two deals for the first ten days of July being concluded at $7.65/gal ($2,303/tonne) DDP USG on Tuesday.