More pandemic news relevant to the plastics industry:
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Supply
Crude prices were modestly higher in early trading today, with the WTI at $41.67/bbl and Brent at $44.3/bbl.
Mexico will likely cut its production goal for state-owned Pemex in the upcoming budget as oil revenues this year are running at 56% of the 2020 goal due to low prices and production shortfalls.
Polypropylene and polyethylene supplies are extremely tight in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.
Major truckers are seeing rising tonnage and spot prices as factories and retailers replenish inventories in anticipation of continued economic recovery.
A dangerous heat wave is expected to grip the Western U.S. over the Labor Day weekend.
We anticipate the Labor Day holiday will cause roadway congestion this weekend and early next week, impacting trucking capacity, pricing and performance.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has scheduled its (USA/CAN/MEX) Roadcheck for Sept. 9th through the 11th – we expect this to reduce capacity and service levels for the week.
Clients are advised to provide expanded lead times on orders to help ensure delivery dates will be met.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation raised its projection for U.S. COVID-19 deaths to more than 410,000 by January, more than double the nearly 190,000 deaths so far, with the daily death toll reaching 3,000 in December.
Twenty-four states are experiencing rising trends for new COVID-19 cases this week.
The nation’s top infectious disease doctor warned that the Labor Day holiday could spark an increase in COVID-19 infections, with particular concern for 7 Midwestern states — North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
Global investment banks are experiencing an unexpected pandemic windfall, with revenues up more than 30% on investment banking fees from cash-hungry clients and trading revenue in the soaring stock market.
Despite a 20% drop in car sales, the average price of a new car rose to a record $35,420 in August due to tight inventories and shoppers gravitating to higher value vehicles.
Hotel bookings are down 65% for the upcoming Labor Day week compared with 2019, with only 14% of rooms booked for Labor Day itself.
Bricks and mortar retailing is suffering a crushing blow from the pandemic…
while online retailing has soared:
Campbell Soup sees sales of packaged foods easing as some consumers return to restaurants and others encounter budget constraints.
A third of Big Ten athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 suffer from myocarditis, a heart complication that can mimic the symptoms of a heart attack and lead to death.
International
A Pew Research study finds increasing economic pessimism across the globe as the pandemic continues to spread, with two-thirds of adults surveyed saying conditions are bad.
Front-line healthcare workers have been hard hit by COVID-19:
As many as a quarter of Latin American university students are expected to drop out due to financial challenges, shattering the dreams of many who were the first in their families to attend college.
Total infections in Brazil topped 4 million yesterday, a doubling in just two months.
India recorded more than 83,000 new cases, bringing total infections in the country to nearly 4 million as it closes on Brazil for the second highest case count globally.
New infections in Indonesia, the current epicenter for COVID-19, exceeded 3,600 yesterday, a record high, two weeks after many Indonesians traveled for their independence day holiday.
Mexico auto exports were down 13.1% year over year in August and down a third through the first eight months of 2019.