MH Daily Bulletin: June 23

June 23, 2022 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

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 next week. Learn more about the tax in this Plastics News article.
  • M. Holland is sponsoring AMI’s Polymers in Cables on June 28-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This conference covers the latest technical developments, manufacturing solutions and trends in the wire and cable industry. M. Holland is also hosting the event’s networking reception on June 28 at 5:30 pm ET!
  • If you’re attending AMI’s Polymers in Cables in Philadelphia, mark your schedule for M. Holland’s technical session:

Supply

  • Oil prices fell about 3% Wednesday to their lowest level in weeks, reflecting rising concern about a U.S. recession. 
  • In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were down 1.2% at $105.00/bbl, Brent was down 0.8% at $110.80/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was down 2.7% at $6.67/MMBtu.
  • The American Petroleum Institute reported a crude build of over 5.6 million barrels this week, the largest build since mid-February. 
  • Congressional support is lackluster for the White House’s request to pause the 18.4-cent federal tax on gasoline until September. 
  • U.S. refiners will try to convince the White House not to ban fuel exports during a high-level meeting today. 
  • The U.S. is expected to become the world’s largest LNG exporter this year, leapfrogging Australia and Qatar. 
  • Chevron is moving into the booming U.S. LNG market after striking two long-term purchase agreements with top U.S. producers Cheniere Energy and Venture Global LNG. 
  • Top oilfield firm Schlumberger expects a 50% increase in offshore investment over the next four years. 
  • The U.S. administration released an environmental impact statement for what could become New Jersey’s first offshore windfarm capable of powering 500,000 homes. 
  • Two U.S. oil pipeline projects have been completed so far this year, with at least two more set to come online later in 2022:
Two new U.S. crude oil pipeline projects have been completed this year

Supply Chain

Domestic Markets

  • The U.S. reported 184,074 new COVID-19 infections and 860 virus fatalities Tuesday. 
  • Almost one-fifth of U.S. adults who have COVID-19 are experiencing symptoms lasting longer than three months, new data shows. 
  • Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine produced strong immune responses against the fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron in a recent study, with the firm planning to seek authorization for the shot in August. 
  • About 18% of parents surveyed said they would get their children under age 5 vaccinated right after COVID-19 shots were authorized for the age group, compared to roughly 25% who said they never would.
  • First-time jobless claims were essentially flat last week at 229,000.
  • The 30-year mortgage rate rose to 5.81%, the highest in 13 years.
  • The Federal Reserve chairman gave the strongest indication yet that the central bank’s path of raising interest rates will cause a recession. A new paper from Federal Reserve economists, meanwhile, pegs the likelihood of recession at 50% within a year. 
  • Drastic and unforeseen changes in market conditions are causing firms in various industries to pull job offers, a sign the tightest labor market in decades may be weakening. 
  • Over 21,500 U.S. tech workers have lost their jobs so far this year, with the total number of layoffs skyrocketing 780% in May over the first four months of the year combined. 
  • JPMorgan Chase will start laying off hundreds of employees in its mortgage unit this week in response to the spike in interest rates rocking the housing market. 
  • U.S. mortgage applications rose 4.2% last week but were down over 10% from the same time last year:
United States MBA Mortgage Applications
  • Manhattan’s median monthly rent soared to $4,000 for new leases in May, a 25% year-over-year increase. 
  • The IRS’s backlog of unprocessed paper tax returns was 21.3 million at the end of May, up 1.3 million from a year earlier as hopes dim for clearing the backlog this year. 

International Markets

Canada Inflation Rate
  • Sri Lanka is on the brink of collapse due to inflation and acute shortages of power, food and medicine, officials said. 
  • Stellantis workers in Serbia blocked the capital’s main highway Wednesday to protest layoffs as part of the firm’s switch to making electric vehicles. 
  • Ford said it will make “significant” job cuts in Spain later this decade as it shifts factories to producing electric vehicles. 
  • Bidders for Toshiba Corp. are offering up to $22 billion to take the beleaguered Japanese conglomerate private. 
  • The number of 5G smartphone subscriptions worldwide will blow past one billion this year, almost doubling from 2021, according to Ericsson:
Global 5G Adoption to Hit One Billion in 2022

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