January 9, 2023 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

MH Daily Bulletin: January 9

News relevant to the plastics industry:

At M. Holland

  • M. Holland is the headline sponsor for AMI’s Thermoplastic Concentrates in Orlando on Jan. 24-26. Stop by Booth #16 to speak with our experts and attend a talk on regulatory compliance changes by Christopher Thelen, M. Holland’s Senior Regulatory Specialist, on Jan. 24 at 4:20 pm.
  • M. Holland will be exhibiting at MD&M West in Anaheim on Feb. 7-9. Stop by Booth #4115 to meet our Healthcare team and discuss how M. Holland’s line of medical-grade resins can help you develop safe and effective medical products and packaging.
  • The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes nearly $500 billion in new spending and tax breaks that will catalyze the clean energy transition, increase tax revenues and reduce healthcare costs. Dwight Morgan, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at M. Holland, recently provided insight on what the IRA includes and key considerations for the plastics industry. Click here to read the full post.

Supply

  • Oil fell about 8% last week, marking the biggest weekly decline to start the year since 2016.
  • In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 3.3% at $76.17/bbl, Brent was up 2.9% at $80.87/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 8.3% at $4.02/MMBtu.
  • Active U.S. drilling rigs fell by seven last week to a total of 772, about 303 rigs lower than in 2019, according to Baker Hughes.
  • Saudi Aramco’s Motiva refinery, the largest crude refinery in the U.S., returned to production after shutting down during Winter Storm Elliott in late December.
  • Phillips 66 acquired DCP Midstream LP in an $8.7 billion deal that will help bulk up the U.S. refiner’s natural gas liquids business.
  • Earnings from Shell’s LNG trading operations surged in the fourth quarter despite an output drop caused by plant outages, the producer said.
  • The U.S. proposed new rules on Friday that would toughen soot regulations on factories and vehicles, potentially costing industry up to $390 million in annual compliance.
  • At $3.09 a gallon, average U.S. gasoline prices ended 2022 about 19 cents lower than they started the year due to greater refinery production and lower demand in the second half:
U.S. retail gasoline prices rose in summer but ended 2022 lower than start of 2022

Supply Chain

Domestic Markets

  • The daily average for new COVID-19 cases climbed to 67,243 last week from 57,504 the week before, while average fatalities rose to 390 from 361. The number of hospital patients with COVID-19 has more than doubled in the past month.
  • The highly infectious XBB.1.5 strain of COVID-19 likely accounts for over 60% of infections across the U.S., the CDC says.
  • The U.S. added a larger-than-expected 223,000 nonfarm jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate back to 3.5%. A record 165 million Americans were either in jobs or looking for them, signaling a long-awaited improvement in labor supply.
United States Non Farm Payrolls
  • The Atlanta Fed says the latest U.S. jobs figures are another sign that the economy is gradually slowing, potentially allowing the central bank to step down to a quarter-percentage-point rate hike at its next policy meeting.
Fed: Don't Expect Any Rate Cuts in 2023
  • Average hourly earnings in the U.S. rose 0.3% in December and were up 4.6% year over year, the smallest rise in about 1.5 years.
  • New orders for U.S.-manufactured goods dropped a larger-than-expected 1.8% in November amid a sharp decline in bookings for aircraft.
  • U.S. service-sector activity contracted for the first time in 2.5 years in December amid weakening demand, with the Institute for Supply Management’s index dropping from 56.5 to 49.6. A separate survey showed input prices falling considerably for the sector, however.
United States ISM Non Manufacturing PMI

International Markets

Euro Area Inflation Rate

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