Economic data were generally negative this week, and the recovery of global industrial production appears to be slowing, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Arlington, Va.; www.americanchemistry.com) says in its latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Trends report.
Charting the various economic reports released in the past week, ACC says data for industrial production, retail sales, trade and regional business were all disappointing. Across most of the world, growth in industrial production is moderating, ACC says, noting that chemical production in the U.S. fell by 0.6% in June.
The slowing industrial production confirms earlier signals, ACC comments, that "a second-half slowdown or soft patch is clearly in order."
Countering the negative economic data were reports indicating that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to a two-year low in the U.S., and other data suggest that inflation appears to be constrained.
In other data, equity prices for chemical companies were up this week, but were down compared to the beginning of the year. The ACC market capitalization of U.S. basic and specialty chemical companies rose by 4.3%, to $513.7 billion, over its value at the end of last week. But the ACC market cap is down 5.6% from the start of 2010. By comparison, the S&P 500 index rose 2.5% this week, but is down 1.7% from the beginning of the year.