The major indices may be in negative territory today, but it is a good day for Wall Street. If the nation’s largest companies are buying, consumers cannot be too far behind.

Merger Mondays are back. But the markets don’t like the news. Even though a handful of the nation’s most economically sensitive firms are pulling their heads from the sand and shelling out big bucks in the name of growth, the markets started the week deep in the red thanks to a disastrous end-of-the-month selloff in Asia.

As investors across the globe wonder if revenue growth is necessary to prop up current share prices, China’s market dipped by more than 6% on Monday. The bears trounced their way across the globe, taking European markets down by about 1% and the S&P down an equal proportion so far today.

But there is good news, especially if you are a fan of comic books.

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The recent disclosure reports have revealed that lobbying is a frequent phenomenon with the chemical giants such as DuPont (DD) and Eastman Chemical (EMN). The second quarter report suggested that DuPont spent more than $1.2 million to lobby on biotechnology, trade, taxes and more. During April-June, the company also lobbied Congress, the White House and a number of federal agencies including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and Treasury on chemical plant security, patent reform, energy efficiency and climate change. On the other hand, Eastman, the Tennessee-based manufacturer of coatings and specialty plastics spent $270,000 lobbying the federal government on clean energy, antitrust and other issues. During April-June, the company also lobbied Congress and the Energy Department on legislation dealing with industrial gasification incentives, shareholder rights as well as antitrust and labor issues. The chemical industry is susceptible to environment-based litigation. This has prompted ...

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to tour two different oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta. I saw a massive open-pit oil sands mine, and the associated reclamation effort, operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. I also visited an in situ oil sands recovery project called Surmont, operated by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).

The trip was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which paid for the airfare and accommodations. Managers at both Syncrude and ConocoPhillips granted me access to any parts of their operations I wanted to see (within allowances for safety). And everyone answered any and all questions I asked.

Post-trip, I have complete editorial freedom to write about what I saw and learned. And I learned a lot. So this is Part I of a two-part series. Watch for Part II.

The Past and Future of Oil and Oil Sands

The first thing that struck me about visiting

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A couple of weeks ago I was in Fort McMurray, Alberta.  I was visiting two large oil sands operations, courtesy of Conoco Phillips (NYSE:COP), Syncrude Canada and the American Petroleum Institute, which sponsored the trip.  I’ve been all over the place, but never to a working oil sands operation.  This was a first for me, and quite an eye-opener.

What Are These Oil Sands?

Back in Pleistocene time, the glaciers covered much of northern Alberta.  In places, there was a mile of ice.  During some of the warmer periods, there was a lot of melting.  On occasion, and in some places, there were giant, glacial-dammed lakes.

Every now and again, these glacial dams would break, sending massive volumes of water downstream, wiping away pretty much everything along the way.  Well, it turns out that in this scoured-out area that included much of the rock covering some lower Cretaceous deposits of

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 21, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Paul Raman discusses the Chemicals & Fertilizers sector. Highlighted stocks include: Celanese (CE).

Here is the latest on the Chemicals & Fertilizers sector:

Demand growth is near 0% currently. Demand for chemicals tracks global industrial production and global GDP very closely. Housing and auto markets could continue to weaken. Nearly 10% of chemical demand is directly tied to the housing sector, and an additional 10% is tied to the auto sector.

The global slowdown in economic growth will directly affect the chemical industry. Prices may fall. Pricing power is a function of three variables: inflation, capacity utilization and raw material price changes. Inflation is low (but could increase with aggressive monetary policy), capacity utilization levels are weakening, and oil prices are weak. This suggests

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Overview - Neutral

OPPORTUNITIES

The industry is divided into commodity chemicals (45%) and specialty chemicals (55%). The commodity segment tends to be more concentrated, and cost reductions, improving yield from better technology and economies of scale are important. In the specialty segment, margins are higher due to better pricing and more efficient operations.

Demand for fertilizers is driven by crop prices. Since crop prices have fallen, so has fertilizer demand, but with reduced capacity, prices should stay firm.

The chemical industry is a large consumer of oil, natural gas and energy. However, oil and gas prices are weak. Many chemical and fertilizer companies have excellent balance sheets and cash flows. This bodes well for the industry in this time of tightened credit and financial instability.

WEAKNESSES

Demand growth is near 0% currently. Demand for chemicals tracks global industrial production and global GDP very closely. Housing and auto markets could continue to weaken. Nearly 10% of chemical

...

Overview - Neutral

OPPORTUNITIES

The industry is divided into commodity chemicals (45%) and specialty chemicals (55%). The commodity segment tends to be more concentrated, and cost reductions, improving yield from better technology and economies of scale are important. In the specialty segment, margins are higher due to better pricing and more efficient operations.

Demand for fertilizers is driven by crop prices. Since crop prices have fallen, so has fertilizer demand, but with reduced capacity, prices should stay firm.

The chemical industry is a large consumer of oil, natural gas and energy. However, oil and gas prices are weak. Many chemical and fertilizer companies have excellent balance sheets and cash flows. This bodes well for the industry in this time of tightened credit and financial instability.

WEAKNESSES

Demand growth is near 0% currently. Demand for chemicals tracks global industrial production and global GDP very closely. Housing and auto markets could continue to weaken. Nearly 10% of chemical

...

Overview - Neutral OPPORTUNITIES The industry is divided into commodity chemicals (45%) and specialty chemicals (55%). The commodity segment tends to be more concentrated, and cost reductions, improving yield from better technology and economies of scale are important. In the specialty segment, margins are higher due to better pricing and more efficient operations. Demand for fertilizers is driven by crop prices. Since crop prices have fallen, so has fertilizer demand, but with reduced capacity, prices should stay firm. The chemical industry is a large consumer of oil, natural gas and energy. However, oil and gas prices are weak. Many chemical and fertilizer companies have excellent balance sheets and cash flows. This bodes well for the industry in this time of tightened credit and financial instability. WEAKNESSES Demand growth is near 0% currently. Demand for chemicals tracks global industrial production and global GDP ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 2, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the latest Industry Outlook. Today's interview is with senior analyst Paul Raman, who talks about the Chemicals & Fertilizers Industry, including Celanese (CE) and Eastman (EMN).

A synopsis of today's Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.

The global slowdown in economic growth will directly affect the chemical industry. Prices may fall in this industry. Pricing power is a function of three variables: inflation, capacity utilization and raw material price changes. Inflation is low (but could increase with aggressive monetary policy), capacity utilization levels are weakening, and oil prices are falling. This suggests a high probability of falling prices.

There is the chance of accelerating capacity growth in 2009-2011, assuming that projects do not get cancelled. This is at a time when demand

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Overview - NeutralOPPORTUNITIESThe industry is divided into commodity chemicals (45%) and specialty chemicals (55%). The commodity segment tends to be more concentrated. In the commodity segment, cost reductions, improving yield from better technology and economies of scale are important. In the specialty segment, margins are higher due to better pricing and more efficient operations.Demand for fertilizers is driven by crop prices that are high levels. At these levels, fertilizer demand should be steady at worst, and with reduced capacity prices should stay firm. The chemical industry is a large consumer of oil, natural gas and energy. However, oil and gas prices are falling, and this is providing a windfall.Many chemical and fertilizer companies have excellent balance sheets. This bodes well for the industry in these times of tightened credit and financial instability.WEAKNESSESDemand growth is slightly negative currently. ...