March 24, 2023 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

MH Daily Bulletin: March 24

News relevant to the plastics industry:

At M. Holland

  • M. Holland’s partnership with Lavergne, a global manufacturer of customized compounded engineered resins, was recently shared in Plastics Today. To learn more about this agreement to distribute post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins for customers in North America, click here.

Supply

  • Oil fell 1% Thursday after the U.S. Energy Secretary said refilling U.S. strategic reserves could take several years.
  • In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were down 2.1% at $68.51/bbl, Brent was down 2.0% at $74.42/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 2.5% at $2.21/MMBtu.
  • Oil tankers are being rerouted to Rotterdam to avoid French ports as strikes disrupt operations at the nation’s’ refineries, LNG terminals and nuclear sites, causing fuel shortages.
  • Venezuelan crude exports have been largely halted amidst a corruption probe after it was revealed the state oil company has accumulated over $21 billion in accounts receivable over the past three years.
  • LNG freight rates for Atlantic Basin cargoes slid to a seven-month low as natural gas prices in Europe continue falling.
  • The EU’s ban on imports of Russian oil products has led to a supply glut in Asia, particularly for diesel, traders say.
  • Italy is preparing a new $5.5 billion funding package to help businesses and families cope with costly energy bills.
  • China is speeding up its already rapid rollout of renewable energy with a sweeping new plan for projects in rural areas, officials said Thursday.

Supply Chain

Domestic Markets

  • Bank of America and UBS trimmed their forecast for terminal U.S. interest rates to 4.75%-5% after the Federal Reserve hinted it might pause its rate-hike campaign due to banking-sector turmoil.
Fed Projections: The Ceiling Is in Sight
  • New U.S. jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 191,000 last week, showing few signs that recent financial turmoil is having an impact on the job market.
United States Initial Jobless Claims
  • Irish-American professional services giant Accenture announced plans to cut 2.5% of its workforce, or around 19,000 jobs, in the latest sign of worsening corporate demand for IT services.
  • JPMorgan Chase estimates that the U.S.’s most vulnerable banks likely lost at least $500 billion from outflows following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
  • Emergency lending from the Federal Reserve hit record levels the past two weeks amid continued large-scale extensions of credit to the financial system.
  • Corporate financings have stalled since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, with no initial public stock offerings and, for the first time in 13 years, no high-grade bond sales in the week ended March 17.
  • The U.S. current account deficit, which measures the inflows and outflows of goods and services, narrowed 5.6% in the fourth quarter to a total of $206.8 billion.
  • General Mills raised its fiscal 2023 forecasts for a fourth time after beating estimates for quarterly results, boosted by price increases and steady demand for its packaged foods.
  • Some companies are now looking at flexible remote-work setups as a liability amid slowing economic conditions.
  • Sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose to a six-month high in February, new data shows:
United States New Home Sales

International Markets

  • Deutsche Bank shares sank as its bond insurance rates spiked on fears of a default by the German investment bank. Bank stocks led European stock markets lower Friday.
  • Yesterday’s 25 basis points rate hike by the Bank of England, the 11th increase in a row, raised rates to a 14-year high.
UK Interest Rate Raised to a 14-year High
  • Corporate distress levels in Britain accelerated in the three months to February to their highest level in almost three years.
  • The EU purchasing managers index jumped unexpectedly to 54.1 this month from 52.0 in February as strong services activity offset continued weakness in manufacturing. 
  • More than 1 million demonstrators took to the streets across France on Thursday to protest the government’s pension overhaul.
  • Headline inflation in Mexico eased modestly to 7.12% in the first half of March.
  • Toshiba’s board accepted a $15.2 billion buyout offer from a group led by a Japanese private equity firm, potentially ending years of upheaval at the conglomerate.
  • Canadian jet-maker Bombardier raised 2025 revenue and free-cash targets amid a swelling order backlog for private jets in the U.S.
  • European officials rolled out proposals aimed at forcing companies to back up environmental and sustainability claims with scientific evidence.

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