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Reports on the financial performance of General Chemical and GenTek for the first quarter of 1999. GenTek's earnings from continuing operations; Sales of General Chemical for the period; Factors that led to flat sales of General Chemical; Expected growth of General Chemical in worldwide demand for soda ash, according to Tom Kelly, analyst at Standard & Poor's; Share prices of the companies.

Reports on the acquisition of AstraZeneca's specialty chemical business by private equity firms Cinven and Investcorp in a leveraged buyout. Value of the acquisition; Operating profit, sales and net asset of AstraZeneca; How Mark Sullivan, head of chemicals/Europe at Chase Securities, described the leveraged buyout; Reaction from analysts regarding the deal's valuation of Zeneca Specialties.

Details the plans of Engelhard to repurchase its secondary offering of shares owned by Minorco. Value of the shares; Lead underwriters and financier for the buyback; Financial performance of Engelhard in 1999.

Reports on the plan of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to solicit firms to voluntarily test chemicals targeted by its Children's Environmental Health Initiative. List of the pollutants to be tested; Why EPA switched from mandatory to voluntary testing.

Focuses on the trust-preferred securities issued by Hercules Chemical company underwritten by Merrill Lynch to refinance the bank's credit which they used to acquire BetzDearborn. Rating of the Standard & Poor on Hercules as an underwritting company; Total amount of stocks planned to be issued by the company; Increase in the debt-to-total capitalization level of the company.

Focuses on the agreement signed by Lyondell Chemical with J.P. Morgan and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette to restructure the loan package it used to purchase Arco Chemical. Obligation of Lyondell that has been remove under the agreement.

Deals with the decline of the bonds market in the chemical industry. Comments from Peter Young, president of Young & Partners; Optimism on the bond market for chemical firms; Data on the global bond issues.

Reports the acquisition of Global Industrial Technologies' APG lime business by Chemical Lime company. Terms of payment for the acquired business; Plans of Global for the proceeds of the sale.

Reports on the decline of earnings of several chemical companies in the fourth-quarter in 1998. Earnings of Wellman for the quarter; Sales of Lawter International for the period; Sales and earnings of Stepan and Valspar.

Reports that chemical firms have authorized stock repurchases to take advantage of low share prices. Value of shares that Crompton & Knowles, RPM and Cytec Industries will repurchase.

Lists the most diversified and commodity chemical producers that reported depressed earnings for the fourth quarter of 1998. Companies whose estimates were lowered; Details on corporate earnings.

Reports on the plans of Nova Chemicals to sell preferred securities to replace loans incurred as part of its purchase of Huntsman's United States and European styrenics business. Comments from Nova Treasurer John Sereda; Details on the preferred securities to be sold; Information on Nova's first equity-linked issue.

Reports on the issuance of notes by Scotts company. Information on how Scotts used the proceeds; Plans to repurchase senior subordinated notes due in 2004.

Reports that Trace International Holdings has dropped its bid to acquire polyurethane foam maker Foamex International company. Reason for the cancellation; Views of Marshall Cogan, chairman and chief executive officer of Trace.

Reports on the plan of the Dow Chemical company to exchange high-interest bonds for bonds that take advantage of lower interest rates. Details on the bonds; Comments from Stephan Koch, Dow's finance manager/treasury group; Financial information on Dow.

Reports on the high-yield notes issued by Huntsman company. Value of the floats notes; Explanations from Tom Cole, head of the chemicals group at BT Alex. Brown in Chicago, Illinois; Purpose of the move; Business transactions of Huntsman.

Provides information on the financing secured by Morgan Grenfell Development Capital through BT Alex. Brown to pay for its acquisition of Hoechst's Vianova resins business. Leveraged buyout (LBO) of Vianova; Other LBO transactions; Reason behind the divestment of Vianova.

Focuses on the opinion of analysts that chemical companies could face credit downgrades. Reason Moody's Investor Service has cut its outlook for ICI company to negative; Status of the divestment of the non-North American titanium dioxide of ICI to DuPont; Problem of companies that want to sell assets.

Reports on the plans of AMP, a hostile takeover target of AlliedSignal, for financing a share repurchase program. Underwriters of the loan package; Details on the credit package; Negotiations of AlliedSignal for a credit line to finance its offer for shares of AMP; Financial advisers of AlliedSignal.

Focuses on the Monsanto company and the American Home Products company cancelling their proposed merger. Reason for calling off the merger; Stock prices of Monsanto; Value of the loan offered by Citibank for the acquisition of Deklab Genetics by Monsanto.

Reports on the $500 million shelf registration filed by Cabot company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Remarks of Cabot on the move; Cabot's plans for their proceeds.

Reports on the takeover targets of chemical companies despite the collapse of stock prices. Moves of chemical companies to divest petrochemical assets; Acquisition prospects of companies; Total market capitalization on petrochemical assets.

Reports on the decision of Wellman to replace short-term debt with long-term financing to refinance Pearl River project. Rate assigned by Standard & Poor to the shelf registration filed by Wellman; Capacity of the Pearl River operations; Information on the expansion plan of Pearl River's capacity in 2001.

Reports that DuPont has confirmed plans to sell Conoco's stake through a initial public offering (IPO). Analysts' evaluation on the IPO and tax-free split; Information on DuPont's IPO; Average United States oil share prices in 1998.

Focuses on the 1998 third-quarter earnings of chemical companies in the United States. List of companies that show higher earnings; Companies that issued earning warnings; Factors that drove low earnings in the quarter; Prediction of Les Ravitz, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

Reports that chemical companies have continued to actively buy back stocks while share values remain depressed as of September 30, 1998. Companies which have announced share repurchase programs; Amount spent by the Agrium company to repurchase 25 percent of its outstanding shares since 1996; Expected completion of the stock repurchase program of Air Products company.

Focuses on Latin American chemical and refinery sector project bonds. Plan of Citibank and Credit Suisse First Boston for capital markets financing for the Mega project; Information on the Mega project; Information on bonds for Sincor company, a refinery project in Venezuela.

Cites the move of commodities producers for joining the pack of chemical companies in pre-announcing for the lower third-quarter revenue results of 1998. Market where Union Carbide was weak; Why most commodity companies are expecting lower earnings; Troubles encountered by Union Carbide as part of its low third-quarter earnings.

Reports on the fall of the third quarter revenue of the Cytec company for the fiscal year 1998. Drop in earnings per share of the company; Comments from some analysts.

Reports that chemical industry bond spreads over United States Treasuries have widened since July 1998. Increase in weighted average yield to worth; Trading of Single-B credits; Companies with high-yield issues.

Focuses on the meeting conducted by the Hercules company with bankers to kick off a bridge financing for its BetzDearborn acquisition. Purpose of the company for the acquisition; Banks that will managed the acquisition; Comments from analysts; Concerns raised by some analysts.

Predicts the divestments to be made by the Crompton & Knowles company for its food ingredients and dyes operations following the sale of a 50 percent stake in its Gustafson seed treatment business. Total sales made by the plant on the overall revenue of the company; Comments from John Roberts, a Merril Lynch analysts.

Reports that the Asian and Latin American financial crises are affecting the earnings of specialty chemical companies. Companies affected by the financial crises; Sales generated by specialties makers in international markets; Companies with significant emerging markets exposure.

Reports that Crompton & Knowles (C&K) has received authorization to buy back 7.5 million common shares on September 1998; Transactions prohibited on the company for two years; Comment from Peter Barna of C&K.

Reports that the Sherwin-Williams company is gearing up for more paints and coatings acquisitions in 1998. Purpose of the filing; Acquisitions completed by Sherwin-Williams in the paints and coating sector; Financial information on the company.

Reports that DuPont company will redeem $1.23 billion of bonds with coupons ranging from 7.5% to 8.5%. Pricing of the bonds; Plan of the company in exiting the oil refining business; Involvement of Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter companies with the tender offer.

Reports on the plan of Calgon Carbon company to trim its payroll at the end of 1998. Purpose of the restructuring plan; Estimated Calgon Carbon's third quarter earnings; Financial information on the company during the second quarter of 1998.

Reports that NL Industries has redeemed all of its discount notes due on 2005 to reduce its high-yield debt and improved credit rating. Details on the NL acquisition of Tioxide's 50 percent stake in Louisiana Pigment company; Amount repaid by the company in the first-half of 1998.

Reports that Crompton and Knowles may start a share repurchase program after the investment blackout period following its acquisition of Uniroyal Chemical has ended. Details on the company's stock price as of August 31, 1998; Market capitalization of the company; Efforts done by the company to increase its stock.

Reports that Eastman Chemical has filed a shelf registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a billion dollar bonds and stocks. Remarks from Allan Rothwell, chief financial officer of Eastman's; Posted second-quarter earnings of the company.

Reports on the status of chemical stocks when the stock market fell on August 31, 1998. Remarks from John Roberts, an analyst at Merrill Lynch chemical commodity; Stocks performance of Dow Chemical and DuPont; Prediction of analysts for the third and fourth quarters.

Reports that Calgon Carbon's board of directors has pulled the company off the auction block in response to the disappointing low bids for the shares. Remarks from Thomas McConomy, chairman and president of Calgon; Details on the strategic goals outlined by McConomy; Financial performance of Calgon Carbon for the second quarter of 1998.

Reveals that A. Schulman, Albemarle, and Nalco Chemical have disclosed plans to buy back large portions of their outstanding common shares. Information on Schulman's buyback; Only way to grow earnings, according to David Begleiter, an analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston.

Presents an outlook on research and development (R&D) spending in the chemical industry in 1999. Projected increase in the R&D spending; Reason for increasing R&D spending; Information on the Apex program of DuPont company.