January 25, 2023 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

MH Daily Bulletin: January 25

News relevant to the plastics industry:

At M. Holland

  • 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.
  • M. Holland announced the restructuring of its leadership team to support accelerated growth and the next phase of the company’s evolution. Click here to read the full press release. 
  • Supply chain disruptions and balancing customer demand with available materials proved to be challenging across healthcare, packaging and sustainability in 2022. Click here to read what our market managers had to say about their predictions for the three industries in 2023.

Supply

  • Oil fell 2% Tuesday on concerns about a global economic slowdown and a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks last week.
  • In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 1.1% at $81.00/bbl, Brent was up 0.7% at $86.74/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was down 4.6% at $3.10/MMBtu.
  • U.S. crude stocks rose by 3.38 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Government data is due today.
  • U.S. oil and gas dealmaking declined by 13% in 2022 to its lowest level since 2005.
  • Halliburton will hike its dividend by 33% after handily beating estimates for fourth-quarter earnings.
  • OPEC+ is expected to keep its current levels of oil production when delegates meet next week, reports suggest.
  • A wave of freezing weather in Asia is set to boost energy demand across the continent, especially for coal.
  • New data show Chinese buyers account for 40% of recent long-term LNG contracts among global players.
  • More news related to the war in Ukraine:
    • Germany will spend more than $18 billion on its electricity price cap subsidies through May of this year, officials predict.
    • Britain’s government borrowed $33.97 billion in December, the most in three decades, reflecting the huge cost of energy support and soaring interest on debt.
    • India has become the largest seaborne importer of Russian crude, according to a new study.
  • Angola’s 200,000-bpd Dalia offshore oilfield will shut down for a month in February as it undergoes maintenance.
  • Uganda began drilling at its first commercially viable oil operation this week, officials said.
  • Climate goals and the global energy crisis are pushing countries to double the lifespan of their nuclear reactors.
  • Centrica, the U.K.’s biggest household energy supplier, plans to turn an idled gas-fired power station into a renewables hub in a push to move away from fossil fuels.

Supply Chain

Domestic Markets

  • The U.S. reported 28,949 new COVID-19 infections and 272 virus fatalities Tuesday.
  • The U.S. administration suspended daily reinvestments in a large government retirement fund Tuesday, another extraordinary cash management measure aimed at avoiding breaching the federal debt limit.
U.S. National Debt Surpasses $31 Trillion
  • S&P Global’s composite index of U.S. business activity hit 46.6 in January, a slightly slower pace of contraction from December’s reading of 45.
United States Composite PMI
  • A gauge of business activity in the Philadelphia region was negative for the fifth straight month in January.
  • In the latest news from quarterly earnings season:
  • The share of remote jobs on digital job sites is shrinking fast as more companies step up their return-to-office policies.
  • Eli Lilly plans to invest an additional $450 million to expand capacity of a plant in North Carolina.
  • Amazon is offering a $5 monthly subscription plan for U.S. Prime members that will cover a range of generic drugs and their doorstep delivery, furthering the e-commerce giant’s push into healthcare.
  • Serta Simmons Bedding, which accounts for nearly 20% of U.S. bedding sales, has filed for bankruptcy protection amid slowing consumer demand.

International Markets

  • S&P Global’s composite index of European business activity rose to 50.2 in January, signaling expansion and raising hopes that the region might escape recession.
Euro Area Composite PMI
  • British private-sector activity fell at its fastest rate in two years in January, according to S&P Global.
  • Mexico’s headline inflation hit 7.94% in the first half of January, rising slightly from the previous month for the first monthly pickup since September.
  • Economies in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council will grow this year at half the rate of 2022 as oil revenues take a hit from a global slowdown, economists say.

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