Loading The Spring, Dropping The Bling – Building Products Likely Set For A Better 2025, Reality Sets In On Energy Transition

Companies Mentioned: Air Liquide, Air Products, Linde, ExxonMobil, Occidental, AkzoNobel, Sherwin-Williams, Huntsman, Westlake, BASF, Axalta, Aramco, Bridgestone, Nel Hydrogen, AkzoNobel, Volvo, Berry Global, Packaging Corporation of America, Avery Dennison
Commodities Mentioned: Industrial Gases, Lithium, Building Product Inputs, Coating Materials, Natural Gas, LNG, Ammonia, Methanol, Crude Oil, Olefins, PVC, Ethanol, Butadiene, Polypropylene, Ethylene, Polyethylene, CO2, Coal, Hydrogen, SAF, Solar

Key Findings

General Thoughts: The Fed cut interest rates, but US mortgage rates have bounced in the opposite direction – we discuss this development and recent global coating producer reports and read throughs, among other updates.
Supply Chain/Commodities: Graham Copley, the Co-Founder of C-MACC, will host a webcast next week to discuss Air Products’ recent activist investor initiatives and share insights from multiple decades covering industrial gases.
Energy/Upstream: The US Permian is oversupplied with natural gas, with its prices back in negative territory as this market awaits pipeline and other logistic efforts to move the gas to demand centers, benefiting US chemicals.
Sustainability/Energy Transition: We discuss the need for more investment to drive large scale transition projects, as many look underfunded, and evaluate China “clean” coal prospects and German moves to lift its green industry.
Downstream/Other Chemicals: We highlight AkzoNobel 3Q24 volume trends and 4Q24 expectations, Packaging Corporation of America and a few other packager results and strategic moves, and Volvo cutting its outlook.