Labor productivity grew by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018. The average of the last three quarters has been 0.3 percent. Unit labor costs increased 1.2 percent year over year, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. Unit labor costs and productivity changes are reported quarterly […]
The employment situation in the United States is excellent and continues to improve, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. Rising employment and wages are the main contributor to GDP growth because personal consumption accounts for almost 70 percent of GDP. Steel consumption is related to GDP; therefore, […]
Steel Market Update is sharing the following Premium-level article with its Executive-level members this issue. For more information on upgrading to a Premium subscription, email info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Economic indicators of manufacturing activity remain strong. This report summarizes 11 data streams that describe the state of U.S. manufacturing in general and the steel industry in particular. We […]
The Conference Board measure of consumer confidence was revised down for September, but October made up most of that correction. Consumer confidence in October was at its highest level since September 2000. The composite value of consumer confidence in October was 137.9, up from the revised September value of 135.3. The three-month moving average (3MMA) […]
China continues to outpace the rest of the world in the growth of its steel production. Global steel production in September hit an annual rate of 1.821 billion metric tons. Capacity is calculated to be 2.4 billion metric tons and capacity utilization in September was 76 percent, according to the latest Steel Market Update analysis […]
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter of 2018, real GDP increased 4.2 percent. The growth in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, inventory investment, government spending and business investment. These […]
In third-quarter 2018, the Pacific region regained the lead as the engine of national job creation. Third-quarter employment data by state was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. The state data follows the national figures that were published on Oct. 5 and confirm the strength of the labor market. The states […]
The growth of the Chinese economy has slowed, but their steel production is growing almost three times as fast as the rest of the world. Once each quarter, Steel Market Update publishes the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Many analysts don’t believe these self-serving Party figures, […]
In the last month, the U.S. dollar has weakened against seven of the 16 currencies that Steel Market Update tracks. This was close to the performance we reported last month, but a dramatic change from the period May through August when only a few of the 16 appreciated against the dollar (just one in May, […]
The U.S. dollar has on average been relatively stable in the last three months against the currencies of the other steel trading nations. In the last month, the dollar weakened against six of the 16 currencies that Steel Market Update tracks. This was close to the performance we reported in each of the previous two […]
Table 1 summarizes the October prices of the five materials considered in this report and the month/month, three months/three months and year/year change. Price changes have been mixed. In the last three months, coking coal and iron ore have trended up as pig iron, scrap and zinc have trended down. This was the same pattern […]
In the last 12 months, the price of coking coal and scrap have continuously trended up, zinc has continuously trended down, and iron ore and pig iron have been erratic. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through November of the five materials considered in this Steel Market Update report. It includes the month/month, 3 months/3 […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update receive reports on imports broken down into district of entry and source nation. This report takes the regional analysis to the level of product detail. Our intent is to report on HR and CR sheet in alternate months in the rationale that the finer the detail steel buyers have […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have access to reports on our website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate categories. SMU has now developed reports that drill down the HRC and CRC into product detail both nationally and for each district. We report […]
The International Monetary Fund, which updates its World Economic Outlook each April and October, has made a downward revision to its forecast for global GDP growth in 2018 and 2019. On Oct. 9, the IMF published the following: “The latest World Economic Outlook report projects that global growth will remain steady over 2018–19 at last […]
Imports of other metallic coated sheet have declined in all regions in 2018. Each month, Steel Market Update produces an import analysis by region for two of the six flat rolled product groups (HRC, CRC, HDG, OMC, CTL plate and coiled plate). This month, the focus is on coated products. The intent of these regional […]
The Great Lakes region has received the greatest volume of hot-dipped galvanized sheet imports so far in 2018. Each month, Steel Market Update produces an import analysis by region for two of the six flat rolled product groups (HRC, CRC, HDG, OMC, CTL plate and coiled plate). This month, the focus is on coated products. […]
Economic indicators of manufacturing activity remain strong. This report summarizes 10 data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the United States. We have reported on most of these separately and therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction. Our intent in […]
Net job creation in September totaled 134,000 positions. Construction and manufacturing gains were both strong. Table 1 breaks total employment down into service and goods-producing industries and then into private and government employees. Most of the goods-producing employees work in manufacturing and construction and the components of these two sectors of most relevance to steel […]
The employment situation in the United States is excellent and continues to improve. Rising employment and wages are the main contributors to GDP growth because personal consumption accounts for almost 70 percent of GDP. Steel consumption is related to GDP; therefore, this is one of the indicators that helps us understand the reality of the […]
Construction in the United States is experiencing strong growth led by infrastructure expenditures, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Commerce Department data. On Oct. 1, Commerce released the construction put in place (CPIP) expenditures data for August. The growth of total construction on a rolling 12-month basis year over year increased from 2.1 […]
Rolled product imports into the United States were down by 21.6 percent in September on a three-month moving average basis compared with the prior year, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of import license data. Figure 1 shows the tonnage of total rolled steel and semi-finished imports through September on a 3MMA basis. The […]
Indicators of economic activity in the U.S. do not predict a recession any time soon, but the yield curve should be on your radar screen. Once every three months, the Steel Market Update staff tries to gain insight into the timing of the next recession. Economists consider recessions to be a necessary evil to clear […]
In the last month, eight of the 16 currencies that Steel Market Update tracks were down against the dollar and eight were up. This was a dramatic change from the May-August period when few of the 16 appreciated against the dollar (just one in May, two in June, three in July and two in August). […]
The following article is regularly published for our Premium users, but we decided to share it with our entire readership this month. If you are interested in upgrading to a Premium subscription, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475. Oil and gas prices have stabilized, oil inventories are declining and the number of operating rigs exploring […]
Steel Market Update is sharing this Premium-level content with all readers this month. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium subscription, email info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Oil production in the U.S. hit another all-time high in July, but the number of operating rigs exploring for oil and gas has not changed much in 3½ months. […]
Oil production in the U.S. set another all-time record in August and stocks are increasing. In the last month, the price of oil has dropped by $16/barrel. Wall Street Breakfast had this to say on Nov. 9: “Oil fell below the $60 level overnight, a day after slipping into a bear market. That means U.S. […]
This article is regularly published for our Premium users, but we decided to share it with our entire readership this month. If you are interested in upgrading to a Premium subscription, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475. Carbon steel tubular products have a rate of price escalation much higher than plastic products. This is also […]
The U.S. economy created 201,000 net jobs in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 147,000 in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. This is the last employment report before the next FOMC meeting on Sept. 26 when the Feds are expected to raise interest rates for the third time this […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]