Global slowdown weighs on Dow Chemical Dow Chemical reported a 32 per cent drop in earnings, hit by plunging prices in Europe and China, and warned that difficult conditions "may have extended staying power." Earnings for the US industrial group in the third quarter were ahead of analysts" expectations at $0.42 per share, down from $0.62, excluding a one-off gain, in the equivalent period last year. The company's shares rose 6.5 per cent to $30.40 in morning trading in New York. Like many companies reporting in this earnings season, however, Dow revealed weaker than expected revenues, down 10 per cent at $13.6bn. Net income was down 39 per cent at $497m. The company published its results on Tuesday night after what it described as the "inadvertent and premature" release of a restructuring announcement. Dow had earlier revealed that it planned to cut 2,400 jobs and close 20 plants worldwide. It was the second accidental early publication of a high-profile corporate statement in as many weeks, following Google's premature results announcement last Thursday. Andrew Liveris, Dow chief executive, said the cost cuts would contribute to $2.5bn of annual savings, including a $500m reduction in capital spending and $1.5bn from initiatives announced earlier in the year, "to mitigate a slowing world economy." He added: "We recognise that these difficult conditions may have extended staying power, as the new reality is that we are operating in a slow-growth and volatile world." Prices for Dow's products worldwide were lower than a year ago, with the steepest falls in Europe, down 12 per cent, and Greater China, down 11 per cent. Prices in North America fell 8 per cent. Sales volumes rose, excluding the effect of the disposal of the polypropylene business last year, but the increases were not enough to offset the price falls. One bright spot was that the cost of energy and feedstocks used by Dow fell $1.2bn, contributing to a 9 per cent reduction in its cost of sales and protecting profit margins from a steeper decline.