Market Updates - March 2023

 

  • Plastics use in cars hasrisen 16% over the past decade, according to new research.
  • Bank of America’s chief executive expects the U.S. economy to reach a technical recession starting in the third quarter.
  • Sherwin-Williams faces a new lawsuit for adding a 4% supply-chain surcharge at the checkout line for its paints.
  • Banks borrowed acombined $164.8 billionfrom two Federal Reserve backstop facilities last week, a sign of escalating funding strains in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure.
  • Honda’s U.S. unit will move production of its Accord sedan from Ohio to Indiana in 2025 as part of a shift to building electric vehicles.
  • U.S. home prices fell year over year in February for the first time in 11 years, while sales of existing homes surged 14.5% from the prior month, the first gain in 12 months.
  • The U.S. index of leading economic indicators fell in February for the 11th consecutive month.
  • It’s a buyer’s market in current shipping contract talks, with concern growing that low contract rates could force shipping lines to cut capacity just when ocean trade recovers.
  • The Port of Los Angeles handled 331,811 TEUs in February, a 36% year over year drop led by plummeting imports.
  • Georgia’s Port of Savannah handled 395,000 TEUs in February, down 14% from the same month last year.
  • Tesla plans to slash the cost of building next-generation electric vehicles by 50% in coming years.
  • General Motors halted produoctin at its Silao, Mexico, assembly plant for two weeks due to supply-chain problems.
  • Amazon will cut 9,000 more jobs, mostly in advertising and cloud computing, on top of the 18,000 it already eliminated, bringing its total staff reduction of recent months to 9% of its corporate workforce.
  • Trucking executives say they expect a strong rebound in freight demand in the second half of the year.

 

Market Updates - February 2023

 

  • Walmart is warning major packaged-goods makers that it can no longer pass on their price hikes to consumers.
  • Nova Chemicals introduced a new business line – Nova Circular Solutions – and branding – Syndigo – for its sustainable products portfolio.
  • The White House issued long-awaited rules for the national electric-vehicle charger network that requires chargers to be built in the U.S., with 55% of their content coming from U.S.-made components by 2024.
  • Investors and corporate leaders remain optimistic that highly indebted businesses will be able to weather the coming quarters, as evidenced by rallying loan prices, low defaults, and unchanged business plans.
  • U.S. intermodal volumes fell 10.2% last week from the same time a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads.
  • Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow saw tonnage sink 25% year over year in the fourth quarter as it posted a loss.
  • The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handled 635,424 TEUs in January, down 22% from last year and 12% from pre-pandemic levels.
  • Top U.S. auto retailer AutoNation posted better-than-expected quarterly profit as the industry starts to show signs of a gradual recovery from pandemic supply-chain issues.
  • U.S. import prices dropped for a seventh month in January, led by a decline in costs for energy products.
  • Volkswagen will raise prices for all gas-powered models by an average of 4.4% starting next week due to rising costs.
  • Corporate America’s fourth-quarter earnings are down 2.3% from the previous period, the first decline since 2020.
  • U.S. credit card balances have reached a record high nearing $1 trillion, while delinquency rates recently surpassed pre-pandemic norms.
  • U.S. household debt jumped to a record $16.90 trillion from October through December last year, the largest quarterly increase in two decades.
  • Manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region dropped off sharply and unexpectedly in February, with the Philadelphia Fed’s monthly index falling from -8.9 to -24.3.
  • Chevron agreed to sell its assets in Myanmar, a decision coming about a year after the country’s military coup sent companies packing.

 

Market Updates - January 2023

 

  • U.S. manufacturing output fell 1.3% last month, the steepest drop in 22 months, suggesting the sector was rapidly losing momentum amid weakened demand for goods.
  • U.S. container imports settled around 1.9 million TEUs in December, down 19% from a year earlier and nearly the same as pre-pandemic levels. Analysts say steeper declines in import volumes are on the horizon.
  • Trucking and logistics giant J.B. Hunt reported a 17% decline in profit and lower-than-expected revenue growth in the latest quarter after shipping demand slowed during the holidays.
  • JPMorgan’s chief executive says U.S. consumer health is in “good shape” with spending still up around 10% over pre-pandemic levels.
  • Experts predict some 2.77 million vehicles could be lost from global production plans this year due to computer chip shortages, down sharply from the estimated 4.38 million vehicles lost in 2022.
  • About $33 billion in new auto-factory investment was pledged across the U.S. in the first 11 months of 2022, adding to the $37 billion announced in 2021 for one of the biggest factory-building booms in decades.
  • Electrolux, Europe’s biggest appliance maker, reported a fourth-quarter loss, citing high costs and weak demand from both consumers and retailers, especially in North America.
  • Microsoft said it will take a $1.2 billion charge related to the elimination of 10,000 jobs announced yesterday as cloud customers reassess spending and the company braces for a potential recession. Amazon, meanwhile, began the first of 18,000 job cuts Wednesday.
  • Companies in the S&P 500 are projected to boost capital spending by an estimated 6% this year compared to 20% in 2022, a response to higher financing costs and rising economic uncertainty, according to Ernst & Young.
  •  United Airlines and Delta Air Lines reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on resilient consumer demand, while American Airlines lifted its profit outlook for the year.

Market Updates - December 2022

 

Supply

•  Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, pledged to maintain long-term energy cooperation with China, the world’s largest oil importer.
• Britain approved the opening of its first deep coal mine in over three decades, a potential blow to the nation’s environmental efforts.
• Ineos is buying a 50% interest in Sinopec’s Tianjin Nangang Ethylene Project, which is due to start a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year ethane cracker by the end of 2023. 
• Exxon Mobil started production at a new $500 million polypropylene unit at its Baton Rouge complex that adds 450,000 metric tons of output per year.
• Envision AESC, a former battery unit of Nissan, will invest $810 million to build a battery supply plant for BMW in South Carolina.
• U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 7.9% year over year to 14.1 million units in November, as availability continued to improve:

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Supply Chain

• November’s Logistics Managers’ Index fell several points to 53.6, its second-lowest reading on record, indicating rapidly slowing North American freight activity.
• December cargo volumes into U.S. ports will likely fall well short of records set earlier this year as most holiday merchandise is already on store shelves or in warehouses.  
• U.S. transportation capacity continued to grow at a fast pace in November, putting strong downward pressure on prices.