Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available data is through the first quarter except for CPI which is through February. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of the importance of […]
The states compile their employment numbers independently of the Feds, and then both are reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results are close. In the last seventeen quarters since Q1 2013, the Feds reported total job creation of 10,794,000 and the states reported 10,959,000 a difference of only 0.15 percent. Part of this […]
There have been a slew of Executive Orders coming out of the Trump White House aimed at impacting manufacturing and the steel industry. The “Buy American, Hire American” order is just one of the orders from last week that the manufacturing and steel industry need to watch and understand the potential impacts to your company. […]
Miami – April 20, 2017 – Optima Specialty Steel, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, collectively the “Company” or “OSS”) today announced that it has entered into a Plan Support Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Optima Acquisitions, LLC (“OA”), the sole shareholder of OSS. The Agreement contemplates that the Company will emerge from Chapter 11 by the […]
Washington, D.C. – April 19, 2017 – The first quarter of the year ended on a positive note for the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) […]
We include here an unabridged statement from the IMF that was released on Thursday this week which forecasts economic growth for all regions and nations through 2022. The IMF raised its forecast for economic growth in the US in 2017 from 2.2 percent in the October forecast to 2.307 percent and in 2018 from 2.08 […]
Manufacturing activity cooled in New York State in April after two exceptionally strong months. The general business index of the Empire State Manufacturing Survey fell eleven points to register 5.2. The new orders index dropped fourteen points to register 7.0, settling at a more sustainable level of growth. Shipments continued to increase at a moderate […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through February 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report released Friday was another example of why we should not be fixated on a single month’s result. Month on month this was a dismal report with a net increase of only 98,000 jobs, well below analyst’s expectations. To make matters worse, January and February were revised down […]
Manufacturing activity in the U.S. continued to grow in March according to the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The composite headline PMI registered 57.2 compared to 57.7 in February for its seventh consecutive month of growth. Index readings for New Orders and Production were strong at 64.5 and 56.6, respectively, but slowed from February readings […]
For the thirteenth consecutive month, manufacturing across the globe expanded. The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI posted at 53.0 in March, the same as its February 69-month high. First quarter 2017 averaged a reading of 52.9, the best quarter since Q2 2011. As expected with a no-change reading, components of the PMI were little changed […]
Flat rolled steel Price Momentum ended the month of March where it began – indicating higher prices for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and now plate prices. The steel and manufacturing industries remain firmly entrenched in the Optimistic camp as the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index hit new highs for the three-month moving average […]
The MNI Chicago Business Barometer only moved up slightly in March after a surge in points in February. The March reading was 57.7, up from 57.4. Increases were reported in new order and production with indexes reaching 4 and 14 month highs, respectively. Order backlogs increased for the third month but were still below the […]
The headline report of GDP growth in Q4 came in at an upwardly revised 2.06 percent which was a decline from 3.53 percent in the third quarter. GDP is measured and reported in chained 2009 dollars and in the third estimate of Q4 was $16.813 trillion. GDP is defined as Consumption (C) plus Investment (I) […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of February 2017, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in February were 83,490,000 metric tons, a decrease of 9.1 percent from the previous month but an increase of 13.4 percent from […]
The Association of American Railroads finds in a new report that freight railroads are at risk from trade policies that curtail international trade. In an assessment released Tuesday, the AAR said that at least 42 percent of all rail carloads and intermodal units and 35 percent of annual rail revenue are directly associated with international […]
The Precision Metalforming Association released its March Business Conditions Report and found that members continue to be optimistic about future business conditions. A survey of 119 metalforming companies in the U.S. and Canada revealed that members expect steady orders and strong economic activity in the next three months. Current average daily shipping levels jumped in […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value published was dated March 17th (Figure 1). The dollar had a recent peak of 128.963 on January 3rd which was the […]
This is only our second ever write up of global scrap trade. In future we will report quarterly because we believe that to understand the gyrations of the domestic scrap market we should be aware of where the US stands as a global player. This data is not very current because some nations are slow […]
Manufacturers are optimistic in the Texas and Richmond area, according to Federal Reserve surveys. Factory activity is expanding so far in 2017 and manufacturers continue to expect improvement during the next six months. Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey Manufacturing in Texas experienced a ninth month of expansion in March, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of […]
The source of this data is the Conference Board with analysis by Steel Market Update. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. The March report was excellent and handily beat expectations by rising to 125.6 from an upwardly revised 116.1 in February. The three month moving average (3MMA) has […]
Durable goods orders rose in February by 1.7 percent after gaining 2.3 percent the prior month. The increase beat the Bloomberg estimate of a 1.4 percent gain. Excluding the volatile transportation category, orders gained 0.4 percent. Aircraft led the increase with a jump of 47.6 percent for civilian aircraft. Core capital goods orders (excludes aircraft […]
The Architecture Billings Index increased modestly to 50.7 in February pulling out of its dip into negative territory in January. The new projects Inquiry index was 61.5, up from 60.0 the previous month, and the design contract index climbed to 54.7 from 52.1. “The sluggish start to the year in architecture firm billings should give […]
Last Tuesday the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of producer price indexes (PPI), for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release reported results through February. We run this analysis every three or four months to provide information for […]
The March Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed business continuing to expand at a sound pace in New York State. The general business index registered 16.4, a decline of two points from its two year high last month. The new orders index gained 7.8 points, climbing to 21.3 for its highest reading since 2009. Shipments continued […]
Robert Lighthizer faces the Senate confirmation hearings today without the congressional waiver needed to take the post of U.S. Trade Representative. A waiver is required because of a provision prohibiting individuals who worked on behalf of foreign governments in trade negotiations with the United States from becoming the U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer’s work on behalf […]
The election of President Donald Trump uncovered a wound that has been festering for many years with both Democrats and Republicans in the White House. At the recent Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) annual meeting, Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence had this to say about the Obama Administration, “The frustration was we […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through January 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the February employment data on Friday which was a week later than normal. This was the best result for goods producing industries (mainly construction and manufacturing) since August 1998. The preliminary result for net job creation in February was 235,000. December was revised down by 2,000 and January […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) introduced a new data set for GDP by state and region in 2014 and backdated it to Q1 2005. This week the data was updated through Q3 2016. Even though we might consider this to be historically “old,” we think it’s worth reporting because it is a foundation for […]