MIXED BAG FOR CHEMICAL STOCKS

Abstract

The bull run of the U.S. stock market continued in 1996, with a few down periods thrown in to remind investors what a bear market is like. But chemical company stocks, taken as a group, did not grow as impressively as either the stocks on which the Dow Jones industrial average is based or those that make up the broadly based composite index of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For 1996, the Dow Jones closed at 6448. The 30 industrial company stocks that make up the index were up 26% in 1996. That compares with an almost 34% rise in the index in 1995. The NYSE composite index closed at 392, a 19% rise from the 1995 close. And the Nasdaq Stock Market composite index—containing many more small and start-up companies—closed at 1291, climbing 23% higher than the 1995 close. But although the environment was good for the overall stock markets, chemical company ...