Bank Of America Downgrades CE To Neutral

Bank of America, in spite of strong 2Q numbers from the company, is downgrading its rating on Celanese Corp. CE from Buy to Neutral, but is maintaining its $50 price target on the stock. According to Bank of America, “In connection with our reassessment of risk within the chemicals sector, we downgrade shares of Celanese, the global leader in acetyls. Our rating moves to Neutral from Buy. Notwithstanding impressive 2Q results, we believe Celanese's commodity exposure, financial leverage, pension status and modest dividend yield translate to above-average risk to earnings and relative share price performance in the event of a recession, now seen as a 35% probability by BofAML's economics team.” CE closed at $41.87 yesterday.