SMU Price MoMo Index Continues Negative Trend

The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 14th week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot price as recorded by Steel Market Update. MoMo was measured at -2.20 percent this week, meaning that the current HRC price is lower than the average price over the last 12 weeks.

The change in MoMo can be a useful indicator in depicting the severity of price movements and evaluating the directional trend for flat rolled steel pricing. The week-over-week change in MoMo was -0.33 percent, following a +0.38 percent change the week before. Looking at this change on a 3-week moving average, we see the trend for HRC prices is positive for the fourth consecutive week, but slowly heading towards being negative. The 3-week average change in MoMo is +0.18 percent, following an average change of +0.71 the week before.