Home builders had a busy month in March as housing starts jumped 19.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.74 million. According to the report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, starts were 37% higher than the rate one year ago. Construction started on 1.24 million […]
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% […]
Spring has sprung including a bounce in economic activity, according to the latest Federal Reserve Beige Book. The April survey of federal districts showed a moderate increase in activity from auto sales to tourism, along with heightened optimism. Spring break, vaccine rollout and stimulus payments gave the tourism industry a boost from late February to […]
The U.S. trucking industry is straining to keep up with demand as imports and retail shipping vie with construction and manufacturing for limited truck capacity. Imports fell as the coronavirus took hold last March, but surged to 2.1 million TEU (20-foot equivalent units) in August 2020 as global economies reopened. The August record was subsequently […]
The U.S. trucking industry is straining to keep up with demand as imports and retail shipping vie with construction and manufacturing for limited truck capacity. Imports fell as the coronavirus took hold last March, but surged to 2.1 million TEU (20-foot equivalent units) in August 2020 as global economies reopened. The August record was subsequently […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Commercial Metals Co. achieved a strong second quarter in its 2021 fiscal year despite a challenging period beset by rising scrap costs and weather disruptions. Earnings from continuing operations totaled $66.2 million on net sales of $1.6 billion. Shipments of finished steel totaled 1.44 million tons, the steelmaker reported. CMC Chairman, President and CEO Barbara […]
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 […]
By CRU Analyst Sam Grant, from CRU’s Zinc Monitor The U.S. COVID-19 vaccination program has continued to make impressive headway over the past month, with over 100 M doses now administered across the country. With more transmissible strains of the virus now present in the U.S., and with many states continuing to roll back containment […]
Economic activity grew modestly in the U.S. from January to mid-February, reports the Federal Reserve in its latest Beige Book. The vaccine rollout has boosted confidence that business conditions will improve over the next 6-12 months. The leisure and hospitality sector continues to be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions with only slight improvement reported by some […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
Home prices continued to accelerate through December, culminating in the highest annual gain in seven years. The National Composite Index for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices rose 10.4% in December compared to a year ago. “As COVID-related restrictions began to grip the economy in early 2020, their effect on housing prices was unclear,” said Craig […]
Finding that perfect house just became harder. The National Association of Realtors reports that inventory of existing homes at the end of January fell to a record low of 1.04 million units, a whopping 25.7% decline year-over-year. At the current sales rate, supply is at an all-time low of 1.9 months. Sales for the month […]
Housing starts slowed in January as contractors struggle to build affordable homes amidst rising construction costs. Housing starts slid 6.0% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.58 million, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. “The weakness in housing starts […]
Total construction expenditures rose further in January to about $1.52 trillion, up 1.7% from December’s revised estimate of $1.50 trillion, reported the U.S. Census Bureau. The year-on-year comparison is rather remarkable, as the January figure is 5.8% above the year-ago, pre-pandemic estimate of $1.44 trillion. Although the economy is still in recovery mode, the construction sector continues to […]
The U.S. is experiencing a housing construction boom, but nonresidential construction projects are dwindling as pre-pandemic starts are completed and new projects are put on hold, said the Associated General Contractors of America. As a result, more than half of metro areas reported a decline in construction employment from December 2019 to December 2020. “A […]
Total construction expenditures rose further in December 2020 to $1,490.4 billion, a 1.0 percent gain on the revised November estimate of $1,475.6 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite a health crisis that marred most of 2020, year on year the figure is 5.7 percent above the December 2019 estimate of $1,410.3 billion. The report goes […]
Dr. Walter Kemmsies, managing partner at the Kemmsies Group, is bullish on the steel market for 2021. In comments during Tuesday’s virtual Tampa Steel Conference 2021, Kemmsies estimated a minimum metals demand of 218 million tons from 2021 to 2025, most of which will be steel. That is an additional 20 million tons in each of […]
Sales of new single-family homes jumped 1.6 percent from November to December, according to the latest Commerce data. Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 842,000, 15.2 percent above the December 2019 estimate. Median sales price was $355,900 and average sales price was $394,900. The seasonally adjusted inventory at the end of December […]
Home prices soared in November, gaining 7.6 percent from October and 9.5 percent year-over-year, reports the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. Home Price Index. The 20-City Composite rose 8 percent from the previous month and 9.1 percent from November 2019. Phoenix, Seattle and San Diego led the increase with gains of 13.8 percent, 12.7 percent and […]
The housing construction market continued its strength in December with starts vaulting 5.8 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,669,000. Single-family housing starts soared 12 percent, but starts of multifamily housing of five units or more plummeted 15.2 percent. Building permits, an indicator of future construction, rose 4.5 percent last month […]
Demand for flatbed trucks was fueled by residential construction in 2020, with nonresidential construction slipping from pre-pandemic rates. The Associated General Contractors trade group expects 2021 to be a difficult year for the construction industry with only three nonresidential market segments, water and sewer, warehouse and healthcare facilities, expanding. The latest report from the U.S. […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis Welcome to inflation after a 40-year absence. I spoke at the 2021 Aluminum Extruders Council Annual Meeting in March and said to the audience that if you were under the age of 55, you probably have never seen real inflation. The last time the U.S. experienced high, persistent inflation […]
Economic activity rose modestly for most Federal Districts as 2020 came to a welcome end. Two Districts reported flat activity while two others noted a decline, said the Federal Reserve its January 2021 Beige Book. The recent surge in COVID-19 cases resulted in another decline for retail sales and leisure and hospitality services. More Americans […]
Home prices rose to an all-time high in October, according to the latest S&P Dow Jones Indices. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index jumped 8.4 percent in October following a 7.0 percent annual gain in September. The 20-City Composite posted a 7.9 percent year-over-year gain, up from 6.6 percent in the […]
Many of you may have sat, like me, in a line to get gasoline this week. It brought back memories of the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 and the Iranian boycott of 1979. This time, a gasoline pipeline supplying about half of that product to the eastern United States was closed, allegedly due to a […]
Two phenomena that we have not seen in a long time have recently appeared. Whether they are short-term events or long-term realities is provoking debate. I am speaking of the distinct but related issues of inflation and shortages of, it seems, nearly everything. Inflation was a major factor in the U.S. economy throughout the 1970s. […]