IT TAKES ONLY ONE COMPANY, ESPECIALLY if that company is the largest in the U.S., to bring down the chemical sector's earnings growth. This is what happened in the second quarter of this year for C&EN's sample of 24 major U.S. chemical firms. C&EN's survey showed earnings rising a slight 0.4% when compared with the same period in 2005, to $3.94 billion, on a sales improvement of 6.7% to $48.4 billion. Earnings are from continuing operations, excluding significant extraordinary and nonrecurring items. The aggregate profit margin for the group was a still-respectable 8.1%, compared with 8.6% in the second quarter of last year. However, Dow Chemical really hurt aggregate earnings for the group with a 19.1% earnings decline, despite good sales growth of 9.2%. Without Dow, the remaining companies showed a 9.7% increase in earnings to $2.92 billion. Dow reports that increasing energy and feedstock costs outpaced its ability to raise prices on its products, ...