US chem shares soar with stock market

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US-listed shares of chemical companies surged on Tuesday with the general market, amid news of another company proceeding with plans to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus (Covid-19).

Most of the companies followed by ICIS rose by more than 4%, as shown in the table below.

	$ Current Price	$ Change	% Change
AdvanSix	12.33	1.18	10.58
Axalta Coating Systems	23.06	1.52	7.03
Braskem	10.02	0.68	7.28
Celanese	91.20	5.72	6.69
Dow	38.73	2.61	7.21
DuPont	50.43	1.74	3.56
Eastman	68.56	3.10	4.74
HB Fuller	37.94	1.46	4.00
Huntsman	18.40	1.01	5.78
Ingevity	54.43	2.97	5.77
Kraton	16.14	1.80	12.55
Kronos Worldwide	9.27	0.42	4.75
LyondellBasell	67.61	7.19	11.90
Methanex	17.51	1.06	6.44
NewMarket	431.09	-3.45	-0.79
Olin	11.18	0.07	0.63
PolyOne	24.15	0.05	0.21
PPG	99.85	3.67	3.81
RPM International	71.49	1.71	2.45
Sherwin-Williams	583.09	5.79	1.00
Stepan	96.56	0.96	1.00
Chemours	13.34	0.89	7.15
Trinseo	21.54	0.99	4.82
Tronox	6.74	0.49	7.76
Univar	15.09	0.91	6.42
Venator Materials	1.45	0.04	2.84
Westlake Chemical	46.73	2.72	6.17

Their performance exceeded the general market, as shown in the table below.

	26-May	Change	%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	24,995.11	529.95	2.17
S&P 500	2,991.77	36.32	1.23
Dow Jones US Chemicals Index	569.48	17.66	3.20
S&P 500 Chemicals Industry Index	574.33	17.01	3.05

Stock prices rose as after the biotech firm Novavax said it is enrolling its first participants in a phase 1/2 trial for its vaccine, NVX‑CoV2373.

Also, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reopened its trading floor following a shutdown caused by the coronavirus.

US April new home sales rose from March.

Oil futures continued to rise, as shown in the following table.

	26-May	Previous	%
Brent	36.17	35.53	1.80
WTI	34.35	33.25	3.31

In Europe, the majority of listed chemicals company stocks rose amid a general market rally on the back of investor hopes that countries may be starting to put the lockdown era behind them.

Many EU governments moved to ease measures around the start of the month, and the fact that the end of May is in sight without the rate of coronavirus reinfection – known as the R rate – forcing any economies back into stasis has proven heartening for investors, with stock indices continuing to climb.

In Asia, petrochemical shares rose as more countries eased coronavirus restrictions, supporting investor hopes of a global recovery in the second half of the year.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday lifted the nationwide state of emergency as the number of coronavirus cases in the country eased.

Protestors took to the streets over the weekend in Hong Kong after China proposed on 22 May a national security legislation for the former British colony. The US warned that China’s move could lead to sanctions.

Additional reporting by Tom Brown and Nurluqman Suratman

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