Stocks in the Synthetics industry are also in the Basic Materials sector.
Companies in the Basic Materials sector work with the building blocks of stuff. This includes commodities such as oil, gasoline, gold, silver, copper, platinum, and other precious and rare metals, as well as other chemicals. As you might expect, companies in this sector drill for oil and mine for gold but also buy, sell, trade, and otherwise manipulate them. Values can be volatile depending on the supply of the underlying material, as well as the commercial need for it.