Stocks in North American chemical companies plunged on Thursday – with several falling more than 7% – as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average lost nearly 513 points.
The index closed at 11,384, down 4%.
Among North American chemical companies, the declines were widespread and steep.
Companies losing 7% or more include catalyst producer Albemarle, Cabot, Calumet, Celanese, CF Industries, Cytec Industries, Dow Chemical, WR Grace, Kronos, LyondellBasell, Methanex, Mosaic, Quaker Chemical, Rockwood, Spartech, A Schulman, Solutia, Sunoco, TPC Group, Valero and Westlake Chemical.
The list represents nearly every chemical sector.
Stock even fell for Lubrizol and Arch Chemicals, both of which are pending acquisition targets.
The chemical companies hit the hardest had released their quarterly earnings in the past few days.
Polyurethanes and titanium dioxide (TiO2) producer Huntsman fell by nearly 31% – the largest drop among the companies followed by ICIS.
Specialty chemicals producer Chemtura fell by 19%.
Among the majors, DuPont fell by 6% and Dow fell by 10%.
Industrial gases producer Praxair fell by 4%. Fertilizer producer PotashCorp fell by nearly 7%.
The declines came among growing concerns about the global economy – from sovereign-debt worries in Europe, to inflation problems in China to a slowdown in the US.
Source : www.icis.com
