July 1, 2022 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

MH Daily Bulletin: July 1

News relevant to the plastics industry:

At M. Holland

  • M. Holland will be charging a fee to recover the reinstated Superfund Excise Tax for applicable U.S. orders starting July 1, 2022. Clients will be notified of details this week. Learn more about the tax in this Plastics News article.
  • M. Holland will be closed Monday in observance of the July Fourth holiday. We wish all subscribers a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Supply

  • Oil prices fell 3% Thursday after OPEC+ decided to boost output by 648,000 bpd in July and August. Prices were down for the month of June, the first monthly decline since November. 
  • In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 1.9% at $107.80/bbl and Brent was up 1.7% at $110.90/bbl.
  • U.S. natural gas futures plunged 17% Thursday as the shutdown of a major export facility in Texas keeps more supplies at home. In mid-morning trading today, gas futures were up 5.8% at $5.75/MMBtu.
  • Roughly 4% of Norway’s oil production could go offline when a group of Equinor workers strike next week. 
  • OPEC+ will have returned to pre-pandemic output after the next two months of production increases. The group declined to discuss oil policy from September onward. 
  • Saudi Arabia may raise the price of crude it sells to Asia by $2.40/bbl, what would be the second month of increases backed by strong premiums for Middle Eastern oil grades. Meanwhile the UAE, an outlier among regional producers, raised crude prices for the fifth time this year. 
  • Deutsche Bank says Germany faces imminent recession if reduced gas flows from Russia do not improve. 
  • Reports suggest the U.S. administration may have delayed releasing its five-year oil and gas plan this month in order to include more offshore regions for drilling rights
  • Developers have announced over 6 GW of new offshore wind capacity for the U.S. over the next seven years, with the bulk of projects coming online in 2025. 
Developers plan to add 6 gigawatts of U.S. offshore wind capacity through 2029

Supply Chain

Domestic Markets

  • The U.S. reported 135,966 new COVID-19 infections and no virus fatalities Thursday. The seven-day average infection rate hit a 4.5 month high yesterday, while the daily average hospitalization rate has climbed every day since mid-April. 
  • Over 10% of people are testing positive for COVID-19 in New York City amid growing indications of a new virus wave. 
  • COVID-19 cases are back on the rise in Los Angeles, with the city reporting a 20% jump in small outbreaks tied to worksites last week. 
  • Vaccine makers should aim to target the newest and fastest-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 COVID-19 variants with updated shots this fall, the FDA says. 
  • Pfizer is seeking full FDA approval that would allow it to begin marketing its Paxlovid antiviral pill for COVID-19. 
  • New York’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement will remain in place after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge from objectors.
  • The U.S. government is buying 150,000 more COVID-19 treatments from Eli Lilly for roughly $275 million, nearly exhausting existing funding to buy new treatments
  • A key government inflation gauge tracked by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.3% in May from a year earlier but was unchanged from April.
  • The S&P 500 officially recorded its worst half-year since 1970.
  • The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s closely watched GDPNow tracker estimated the U.S. economy contracted 1% in the second quarter, marking the second quarterly contraction in a row. 
  • U.S. jobless claims fell by 2,000 to a total of 231,000 last week, roughly unchanged over the last four weeks.  
  • State and local government job openings are hovering near record-highs, with payrolls having shrunk by over 630,000 jobs since February 2020. 
  • The average U.S. mortgage rate fell to 5.70% last week, the first decline in three weeks as more home sellers begin dropping prices.
  • Transport disruptions will be widespread this Fourth of July weekend as travel activity surges to an all-time high
  • Delta Air Lines’ CEO apologized to consumers for flight disruptions as the carrier deployed office workers to airports in New York and Atlanta to help support holiday travel. 
  • Despite beating quarterly estimates, Walgreens kept its modest full-year forecasts on expectations that demand for COVID-19 vaccinations and products will fall.  
  • Inspectors with the U.S. Transportation Department will audit the FAA’s oversight of Boeing production, the latest in a string of protective measures after the FAA called for a systemic fix to Boeing’s operations earlier this year. 
  • U.S. regulators gave SpaceX permission to link a range of vehicles to its satellite-internet service, a boost for the technology’s growth ambitions. 
Investment in Space Blasts Off

International Markets

War in Ukraine Is Setting Back the Global Economy

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