Job Market Remains Strong The job market remains strong even in the face of trade disputes and labor strikes as US employers hired at a solid clip in October. The economy added 128,000 jobs in October, as reported by the Labor Department and job creation in September and August were revised up by a net [...]
Consumer Confidence Hit Highest Level Since 2000 Consumer Confidence hit highest level since 2000. Only in eleven individual months since 1967 have we seen confidence higher than it is today. Nine of those months were in the year 2000. The other two were in 1999. This is the thin air of high peaks... The euphoria [...]
Chicago Business Barometer Highest Level Since January The Chicago Business Barometer at highest level since January, rose to 64.1 in June. New orders were up for the second straight month while prices paid reached their highest level since May 2011. Lead times and backlogs also increased in June. Texas Factory Activity Continued in June The [...]
Consumer Spending Bounced Back In March After declining in both January and February, consumer spending bounced back solidly in March, rising 0.4 percent. Personal income rose slightly less, climbing 0.3 percent, causing the saving ratio to slip back to 3.1 percent. Wells Fargo Excerpts from a Wall Street Journal editorial (Business Carries the Economy) in [...]
Timken Steel Raised SBQ Prices In a leading move, Timken Steel raised SBQ prices. The Canton, Ohio company raised its special bar quality (SBQ) product prices by $50-$150 per ton effective Wednesday March 28, 2018. This comes after SBQ mills in the USA slated base price increases effective with April 1 shipments. US producers raised SBQ [...]
Real GDP Increased at an Annual Rate of 3.00% Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.00% in the second quarter of 2017, according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),. The estimate is based on more complete source data than were previously available. The third and final estimate [...]
Alton Steel to Add Coiled Product Alton Steel will add coiled product, according to announced plans to invest $4.75 million in a Garret coiler, expanding its current offering of straight special bar quality (SBQ) bar. The coiler will permit a range of bar from .750” to 1.812” in diameter with coil weights of 5,000#. AMM [...]
The Midwest Economy Index Increased to Highest Value Since June 2014 The Midwest Economy Index increased in April to +0.70 from +0.61 in March, reaching its highest value since June 2014. What do the index numbers mean? A zero value for the MEI has been associated with the Midwest economy expanding at its historical trend [...]
The Dow Crashed the 21,000 Level Wednesday The Dow crashed the 21,000 level after soaring 197 points on Wednesday. Tell me again about the humming economy created by Obama, the super healthcare law created by Obama, the strategy of leading from behind, excessive regulations, higher taxes, doubling the national debt-on nothing. NO…this was wrong for America, [...]
US Raw Steel Production Jumped 1.9% Last Week US raw steel production jumped 1.9 percent last week as mills operated at an ACUR of 73.3 percent. In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 68.7 percent. On the year mills have produced prox 7,000,000 tons compared to the prox 6,500,000 tons [...]
