The global semiconductor shortage continues to disrupt North American vehicle production roughly four months after the issue emerged in a key steel end market. The result: Production at multiple North American assembly plants is down through the end of this month, and some are down in May as well. Here is where things stand to date. General Motors […]
Housing construction rebounded in March as demand for newly built homes was spurred by tight existing-home inventory and low mortgages interest rates. Construction starts for privately-owned houses soared 19.4% from February to March, and 37% from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.74 million units Starts for single-family homes leapt 15.3% […]
General Motors has secured enough microchips to resume output earlier than planned at one U.S. assembly plant and to avoid taking downtime at a facility in Mexico. “GM’s supply chain organization has made strides working with our supply base to mitigate the near-term impacts of the semiconductor situation,” a company spokesman told Steel Market Update on […]
Given the heightened urgency to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change, nearly all the world’s automakers plan to replace at least some of the internal combustion cars and trucks in their lineups with fully electric vehicles (EVs). GM, notably, has pledged to introduce 30 new EVs by 2025 and to produce nothing but EVs […]
Like those in the steel industry, aluminum suppliers see opportunity in the coming wave of battery electrical vehicles (BEVs). Indeed, they claim, even more opportunity for aluminum than for steel. Automakers are hard at work designing battery-powered cars and trucks with zero emissions as efforts to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change […]
Swedish steelmaker SSAB and automaker Volvo have teamed up to make what they hope will be the first vehicles made from fossil-free steel. Volvo plans to begin production of concept vehicles this year using fossil-free steel produced by SSAB, which is pioneering a hydrogen-based steelmaking process. Small-scale serial production will begin in 2022, and mass […]
Ford has joined General Motors in extending downtime at North American assembly plants because of a chip shortage that continues to roil the global automotive industry. The fresh wave of outages means that seven of nine Ford plants in the U.S. and Canada will be down or operating at a reduced schedule the week of […]
General Motors has restarted production at one U.S. assembly plant but taken additional downtime at a host of others because of a microchip shortage that has plagued the auto industry since late last year. The Detroit-based automaker, the largest in the U.S., will resume production at its Wentzville, Mo., assembly plant on the week of […]
Construction employment decreased in 236 metro areas in the 12 months between February 2020 and February 2021, reported the Associated General Contractors of America in an analysis of new government data. “Relatively few places have recovered from the pandemic-induced impacts on the construction industry,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Project cancellations, spiking materials […]
The Dodge Momentum Index reached its highest reading since summer 2018, gaining 1.7% for a score of 151.4. The March Index was boosted by an increase of institutional construction projects entering the planning stage. Compared to March 2020, the index jumped 11%. The range of new projects broadened in the institutional sector with healthcare and […]
Construction industry employment rebounded in March, climbing by 110,000 workers from a plunge of 56,000 in February, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data. “The rebound in March is certainly good news, but contractors face growing challenges that imperil further growth in nonresidential employment,” said Ken Simonson, AGC’s […]
Total construction expenditures edged down in February to $1.52 trillion, down 0.8% from January’s revised estimate of $1.53 trillion, reported the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite the slight dip month on month, total construction was up 5.3% compared to a year ago when spending totaled $1.44 trillion. Year-to-date construction spending amounted to $2.13 trillion, 4.9% above the $2.03 […]
Ford is taking extensive downtime at several U.S. assembly plants and its only Canadian facility because of continued parts shortages stemming from a global semiconductor supply squeeze. The automaker’s Dearborn, Mich., truck plant, which makes the popular F-150 pickup truck, will be down the weeks of April 5 and April 12, a company spokeswoman said. […]
Construction spending dipped 0.8 percent in February hampered by unseasonable weather and fewer new projects, said the Associated General Contractors of America in an analysis of new government data. Contractors reported rising costs and longer delivery times that threaten project completion and financial health. Construction spending totaled $1.52 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate […]
Home prices soared in January to an 11.2% annual gain, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. The January rate jumped from 10.4% in December and was the highest annual rate gain since 2006. The 20-city composite posted an 11.1% annual gain with all cities reporting higher prices, led […]
Automakers continue to take downtime at assembly plants across North America because of persistent and widespread supply chain snarls. The problems include not only the microchip shortage, which has been a drag on the industry since late last year, but also broader parts shortages stemming from port congestion and from the lingering effects of severe […]
President Joe Biden will be in Pittsburgh next week to unveil his administration’s multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure spending plan. The plan will focus on both physical and technological infrastructure, the president said in a press conference. Spending on infrastructure is about both creating jobs and making the United States a more attractive place to do business, Biden […]
New home sales slowed in February, falling 18.2% from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 775,000, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “After sales exceeded construction starts by a historic margin at the end of the summer, the pace of sales has now […]
Buyers continued to snap up existing homes in February causing a record low inventory of 1.03 million units, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Sales for all types of existing housing fell 6.6% from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.22 million, but were 9.1% higher than a year ago. […]
North American auto assembly plants continue to see production hobbled by a global microchip shortage. The chip supply squeeze could become more intense because of a fire on Friday at Japanese microchip supplier Renesas Electronics. And the trouble doesn’t stop there. Parts requiring petrochemicals are in some instances in short supply because severe weather in […]
Ford is building some vehicles in North America without certain components because the global semiconductor shortage has collided with a broader parts shortage. The automaker said it would assemble its popular F-150 pickup truck and its Edge SUV without some electronic modules because they contain “scarce semiconductors” and because of “parts shortages created by the […]
Housing starts tumbled to a six-month low in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.421 million, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Starts were 10.3% below January’s rate and down 9.3% from February 2020. Part of the decline was due to the unusual winter weather across […]
January heating and cooling equipment shipments totaled 1.86 million units, up 2.8% from December and up 18.9% from levels one year prior, according to recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). This is the eighth consecutive month that shipments have increased on a year-over-year basis. Recall that late-2020 saw record-high levels of […]
General Motors continues to crank out some full-size pickup trucks despite a microchip shortage. The Detroit-based automaker is doing so by shipping certain vehicles without chip-containing components necessary for reducing fuel consumption, a company spokesman confirmed. “Due to the global shortage of semiconductors impacting the global auto industry, we are making Active Fuel Management/Dynamic Fuel […]
Reducing carbon isn’t just something that steel wants to do to be a good corporate citizen, it’s increasingly something that key customers – such as automakers – are demanding. Case in point: German automaker BMW is investing in a CO2-free steel production process developed by Boston Metal, a U.S.-based start-up. Boston Metal has found a way […]
February heating and cooling equipment shipments declined 9.3% from January to 1.68 million units, but were up 10.4% from levels one year prior, according to recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). This is the ninth consecutive month that shipments have increased on a year-over-year basis. Recall that late 2020 saw record-high […]
Construction employment continues to lag pre-pandemic levels in most of the U.S., says a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Only eight states added construction jobs from February to January 2021 while 42 states remained below February 2020 levels. “Despite improvement in many sectors of the economy, nonresidential contractors are coping with […]
The semiconductor shortage that forced General Motors to extend assembly plant outages continues to impact production at other North American automakers as well. Case in point: Toyota’s Tundra pickup truck assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas, where it’s not clear how long the production disruption might last. The chip shortage been an issue for Toyota […]
The construction industry remains optimistic despite still facing many challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of 1,400 contractors responding to the Associated General Contractors of America’s Coronavirus Survey, 62% said they plan to add employees this year. A bullish perspective typical of the construction industry, said AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson. “No matter how bad […]
The PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize Act) will begin debate in the U.S. House this week. The legislation, voted down in previous years, would change long-established labor laws that not everyone believes will benefit employees and the industries in which they work. Among those critical of the legislation is the Associated General Contractors […]