Numbers reported by American Chemistry Council point to a national economy continuing to show strength into next year.
The ACC’s Chemical Activity Barometer, considered a leading economic indicator for the United States, rose 0.1% on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in June to 122.27.
ACC Chief Economist Kevin Swift says the CAB indicates continued expansion of commercial and industrial activity into early 2019.
The council’s mid-2018 report also predicts that chemical output will expand by 3.4% this year, followed by 3.6% growth in 2019.
The CAB is derived from four primary components, each of which also consists of a variety of indicators. The four are production, equity prices, product prices and inventories and other indicators.
This June report marked the barometer’s tenth consecutive gain, following post-announcement revisions. The barometer also is up 4.1% on a 3MMA compared to a year earlier.
The unadjusted CAB also notched a 0.3% gain, pushing it to a 4.3% gain year-over-year. ACC said the March, April and May readings were all adjusted upward.
The U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes continued to gain during the second quarter, increasing 0.5% in May after an upwardly revised 1.0% gain in April and a 0.4% gain in March, all reported on a 3MMA basis.
The overall specialty chemicals volume index was up 5.1% on a year-over-year 3MMA basis. The index stood at 112.9% of its average 2012 levels. This represents production that is equivalent to 7.78 billion pounds, the council said.
On a year-to-year basis, there were gains among 23 market and functional specialty chemical segments. Compared to last year, volumes were down in only four specialty chemical segments.