Citing late-2010 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD; Paris; www.oecd.org), the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) says in its latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Trends report that composite leading indicators (CLIs) for several of the world’s largest economies show “clear signs of accelerating economic activity.”
The CLIs for China, the U.S., France and Japan forecast accelerating activity, while that for Russia “points to steady expansion,” the ACC report remarks. In Germany, the CLI is unchanged from the previous month, which can be interpreted as a sign of a stable expansion pace, the report says. Stabilization in the pace of economic expansion was also seen in the CLIs for Canada, Italy, the U.K. and India. Brazil’s CLI indicates a slowdown in economic activity.
Since they are focused on industrial production, OECD CLIs are good indicators for future activity in basic and specialty chemicals, 85% of which are sold to the industrial sector.
U.S. Federal Reserve data indicate that industrial production increased 0.8% in December, after a 0.3% in the previous month.
Describing the economic data for the week overall as “mostly positive,” ACC pointed to strong retail sales and continued improvement in wholesale trade.