Housing starts saw a double-digit gain in August driven by a surge in multifamily production. Despite the overall gain, high mortgage rates and building production bottlenecks continue to act as a drag on the single-family housing market. Overall housing starts increased 12.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.58 million units in August from […]
By CRU Senior China Economist Henry Hao, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook and China Macro Monthly China’s economy showed resilience in August, with growth in industrial production, investment, and retail sales shoring up the recovery from the effects of Covid lockdowns and heatwaves. The worsening property slump, however, continues to drag on the economy and threaten the […]
By CRU Principal Economist Alex Tuckett, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook The rise in inflation has been a major headwind for the global economy. It has squeezed household incomes and led to a tightening of monetary policy across dozens of countries. Although the price environment in Europe remains red hot, there are tentative signs that […]
Hot rolled and galvanized prices continue to decline but many continue to go unchanged, members said during this month’s call with HARDI’s Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council. Much like July, members are currently seeing strong demand and foresee stability in the near future. It’s been an eventful month to say the least. Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs both […]
Economic conditions are still iffy at best. Housing data continues to suffer with new home sales plunging and inventory reaching the highest it has been since 2009. The Richmond and Kansas City Fed manufacturing indexes both plunged in July as well. The Richmond Fed’s manufacturing skill availability index, which indicates the demand for skilled labor […]
New home sales fell to their lowest level since January 2016, further signaling a waning housing market, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The tepid sales pace continued to match declining builder confidence, a trend that has been gaining momentum since the beginning […]
July proved to be another bleak month for existing-home sales in all four major US regions, according to the National Association of Realtors. Home sales were down 5.9% from June, declining 20.2% when compared to the same year-ago perido. Home sales have fallen for six consecutive months through July, while total inventory of unsold homes […]
End use market demand is mixed as mid-year shipment data is reported The recession, inflation, and interest rates remain hot topics for aluminum producers and consumers. As new economic data is announced, both bright spots and points of concern emerge. First, this month’s report on inflation showed a drop month-on-month (MoM) and may signal that […]
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently released the results of its Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) and there seem to be some mixed emotions. There are two separate indices the MMS utilizes to determine market conditions: the Multifamily Production Index (MPI) and the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI). According to NAHB, the second quarter MPI, […]
The number of open construction jobs shrank to 334,000 in June, down from 405,000 in May and declining repeatedly from the record-high and top measure in the data series’ history of 449,000 unfilled positions in April, said the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). According to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data […]
Builder confidence hit a two-year low, tumbling for the eighth straight month in August and bringing the housing market to a crawl. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) said that elevated interest rates, ongoing supply chain problems and high home prices continue to exacerbate housing affordability challenges. August’s HMI reading—the […]
The Dodge Momentum Index moved 2.9% higher in July, gaining ground on the upwardly revised reading for the month prior, according to data and analytics from the Dodge Construction Network. The index registered 178.7 last month, up from 173.6 in June. The leading index for commercial real estate measures data about planned nonresidential building projects […]
US construction spending in June totaled $1.762 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.1% below May’s upwardly revised estimate of $1.782 trillion. Though down for the second straight month, this is only the second drop since September 2021, according to data from the Commerce Department. The decline came as outlays on single-family homebuilding declined […]
The US labor market added 582,000 jobs in July, a surprising boost in hiring and more than doubling what forecasters had projected. The economy has now regained all jobs lost during the pandemic. The result pushed the unemployment rate down to 3.5%, matching the pre-pandemic low, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The July jobless […]
Existing-home sales shrank in June, retreating for the fifth straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors. Three out of the four major US regions saw sales decline month-over-month (MoM) in June while sales in the Northeast stagnated. Sales were down across each region year-over-year (YoY). June sales fell 5.4% from May to a […]
Housing starts shrank in June and single-family starts hit a two-year low as the construction sector continues to face compounding headwinds. Rising interest rates, ongoing building material supply chain troubles, and ballooning construction costs put a damper on the single-family housing market. For the first time since June 2020, both single-family starts and permits fell […]
The US economy has expanded at a modest pace since mid-May, the Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book report. But while the economy continues to grow, it has been exhibiting signs of a slowdown over the past month. And recession concerns are rising, the report said. The latest temperature check by the Fed on […]
I promised there would be more “Final Thoughts” from me before I retire. Today, I am going to write about conversations I had with steel buyers late last week about the market. But first, a couple of key reminders that are important (at least to me): • SMU Steel Summit Conference = 43 days (Aug. […]
Rising inflation and higher mortgage rates are slowing traffic of prospective home buyers and putting a damper on builder sentiment. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), the headline number fell two more points to a level of 67 in June – the lowest HMI reading since June 2020. […]
US construction spending in May totaled $1.780 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 0.1% below April’s upwardly revised $1.783 trillion. This is the first drop since September 2021. The surprising decline month-on-month (MoM) came as a drop in public spending dragged on stalling single-family homebuilding, the Commerce Department reported. The construction spending decline in […]
The US economy shrank in the first quarter of 2022 at a slightly worse rate than expected, with gross domestic production declining at a -1.6% annualized pace, according to the third and final estimate from the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The third review for Q1 was a slight downward revision from […]
New home sales posted a solid gain in May following four months of declines. The increase came despite strong headwinds, including rising mortgage rates and high sales prices. The reason: buyers rushing into the market in advance of the Federal Reserve’s June interest rate hike. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in May increased 10.7% to a […]
Existing-home sales shrank in May, retreating for the fourth straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors. Three out of the four major US regions saw sales fall month-over-month (MoM) in May while sales in the Northeast climbed 1.5%. Sales were down across each region year-over-year (YoY). May sales fell 3.4% from April to […]
By CRU Economist Veronika Akhmadieva, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook With a higher-than-expected headline CPI inflation reading of 8.6% in May, the Fed opted for an even more aggressive monetary tightening. After a 50 bps increase in the federal funds rate in May – which is the highest increase since 2000 – the Fed raised […]
By CRU Senior China Economist Henry Hao, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook and China Macro Monthly In May, overall economic activity in China has improved marginally as the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions led to the resumption of production in late May. Export and infrastructure investment have regained momentum. However, prospects for construction remain weak. While the contraction […]
The following article on the hot-rolled coil (HRC), scrap and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled HR futures are coming back to life after a quiet spell in May. Month to date in June more than 225,000 […]
Housing starts tumbled in May as the construction sector faces strong headwinds. Rising interest rates, ongoing building material supply chain troubles, and ballooning construction costs further delayed construction projects and raise home building costs. Overall housing starts fell 14.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.55 million units in May from an upwardly revised […]
SMU on Monday and Tuesday canvassed steel buyers on a variety of subjects ranging from future steel prices and new capacity to demand and supply chain issues. As we did earlier this month, we are sharing the comments we received in each buyers’ own words rather than summarizing them in ours. Want to have your voice […]
US construction spending in April totaled $1.744 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, just 0.2% above February’s upwardly revised $1.741 trillion. Investment in construction rose less than expected as an increase in private construction was partially offset by declines in public spending, the Commerce Department reported. Construction spending in April missed expectations, easing from a […]
The US labor market added 390,000 jobs in May, a robust figure but a slower pace of hiring versus the upwardly revised 436,000 additional payrolls in April. The result kept the unemployment rate unchanged month on month (MoM) at the pandemic-era low of 3.6%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Payroll gains were better than […]