Concern over the economic crisis in Greece continued to widen and drag stocks down in the U.S. and elsewhere. The S&P 500 Index fell 6.5% last week, while the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) market capitalization of U.S. basic and specialty chemical companies fell by 7.6% from its level last week, according to the ACC Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report.
Despite the drops in stocks, economic reports were generally good, ACC noted. “Indeed, there are fairly good foundations for economic recovery in the United States,” the ACC report states. ACC also commented on the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index), assembled by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The PMI rose more than expected to a near six-year high and factory orders continued to boom, as an export- and investment-led manufacturing recovery leads the economy, the ACC remarked. Other measures of manufacturing activity confirm the upward momentum and that manufacturing is strengthening worldwide,” ACC adds in its weekly report.
Although there were no individual product reports, the chemical industry was one of the industries reporting growth in April according to the manufacturing PMI, the ACC reports says, adding, “Railcar loadings data confirm the trend, as do the hours worked by chemical industry production workers.