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.
Every year, M. Holland’s market managers take time to reflect on the major trends of the past 12 months. Click here to read our 2023 series, including business insight and recommendations for 3D printing, automotive, color and compounding, electrical and electronics, healthcare, packaging, rotational molding, sustainability, and wire and cable.
Supply
Oil prices rose 1.5% Friday, ending the week 8% higher for their biggest weekly gain since October.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were down 0.9% at $79.11/bbl, Brent was down 0.9% at $84.51/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 5.7% at $3.62/MMBtu.
Oil demand in China is forecast to rise 800,000 bpd this year to a record 16 million bpd.
U.S. gasoline prices declined 9.4% from November to December and were down 1.5% from a year earlier.
Active U.S. drilling rigs rose by three last week to a total of 775, about 300 lower than the same time in 2019, according to Baker Hughes.
The U.S. East Coast will likely dodge a winter fuel crisis as unusually warm weather has reduced heating costs by 23% from November highs, according to the government.
Freeport LNG canceled some upcoming cargo orders, adding to uncertainty over when the top U.S. exporter will resume shipments following a facility explosion last summer.
Exxon Mobil will sharply boost gasoline and diesel production at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery this week, completing a $2 billion expansion the company first considered nine years ago.
Questions are rising over how Europe will replace the roughly 220 million barrels of diesel-type products imported annually from Russia when a complete ban is imposed on Feb. 5. The ban will coincide with a separate European ban on almost all imports of Russian oil products.
Prospects for a European recession this year are declining amid unexpectedly low energy prices during winter.
Top U.S. officials outlined plans last week for a carbon-offset program meant to help developing nations speed their energy transition.
Agriculture companies are investing millions of dollars to develop farming programs designed to capture more CO2 in fields, a possible solution to bring down emissions in one of the top-polluting industries.
Electric vehicles comprised about 10% of global car sales last year, up about 68% from the year before.
BMW is planning a major new investment in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, where the company already has a plant, according to Mexican officials.
Carvana is terminating more workers and taking other measures such as reduced work hours as the used-car retailer contends with weak sales.
U.S. prices for used cars and trucks fell 2.5% in December and 8.8% for the year, the latest inflation data shows.
Apple partners Foxconn and Pegatron plan to invest more in Southeast Asia this year, showcasing a drive to add production capacity outside China to mitigate geopolitical and economic risks.
A move by top palm oil exporter Indonesia to restrict shipments is set to squeeze global vegetable oil supplies already dampened by lower output in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Domestic Markets
The daily average for new COVID-19 cases declined to 59,246 last week from 67,243 the week before, while average fatalities rose to 558 from 390.
COVID-19 exacerbated the nation’s labor shortage last year, reducing the available workforce by as much as 2.6%.
Average annual inflation in the U.S. hit 8% last year, the highest in at least three decades:
The U.S. administration plans to take special cash management measures to avoid breaching a $31.4 trillion debt limit this month, but warned that Congress needs to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by early June to avoid default.
U.S. consumers believe price pressures will ease considerably over the next 12 months, with a survey on Friday showing one-year inflation expectations falling to 4%, the lowest level in almost a year.
A widely tracked gauge of U.S. consumer sentiment rose to 64.6 in January from 59.7 in December, the highest reading since April, according to the University of Michigan:
U.S. import prices rose 0.4% last month, the first monthly increase since June:
In the latest news from quarterly earnings season:
The U.S.’s four largest commercial banks reported mixed profits, including JPMorgan Chase (+6%), Bank of America (+2%), Citigroup (-21%) and Wells Fargo (-50%).
BlackRock saw profit decline 18%, hit by a global market rout that squeezed fee income.
Wendy’s is shaking up leadership amid a broader organizational overhaul that could include staff cuts and new investments. The fast-food chain’s sales grew 6% in the latest quarter.
UnitedHealth Group says the “tripledemic” of respiratory diseases this winter did not substantially drive up medical costs, with demand for healthcare services staying in the range of a typical fourth quarter.
Bank of New York Mellon plans to cut around 3% of its workforce this year, joining a number of Wall Street firms in trimming headcount to cope with turbulent markets.
Excluding China, COVID-19 infections globally fell 23% week over week, while virus fatalities declined 13%.
In the latest China news:
China raised the reported COVID-19 death toll since it scrapped its zero-COVID policy last month to 59,938 amid global criticism of the country’s data reporting.
The peak of China’s COVID-19 wave is expected to last up to three months and will soon swell over into the nation’s vast countryside where medical resources are scarce, a top Chinese medical expert said.
A new study estimates that roughly 900 million people in China have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and around 64% of its population currently has the virus.
Some researchers predict China’s population may have seen its first decline since 1961 last year, a historic shift with far-reaching implications for the global economy.
China’s exports declined further in December, falling 9.9% from a year earlier for the biggest dip since the first month of the pandemic:
A Boeing 737 MAX made its first passenger flight in China in nearly four years last week, a milestone in the plane-maker’s attempt to rebuild its business there.
Major central banks delivered a record 2,700 basis points of rate hikes in 2022, which could land global borrowers with $8.6 trillion in extra debt servicing costs in coming years, according to S&P Global.
Global banks are in the process of cutting over 6,000 jobs as investment-banking profits come under pressure, a Reuters analysis shows.
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